{"id":53523,"date":"2025-08-21T13:12:27","date_gmt":"2025-08-21T17:12:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/ams\/?post_type=news&p=53523"},"modified":"2025-09-17T13:32:46","modified_gmt":"2025-09-17T17:32:46","slug":"researchers-discover-how-messy-patterns-create-superior-optical-materials","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/ams\/news\/researchers-discover-how-messy-patterns-create-superior-optical-materials\/","title":{"rendered":"Researchers discover how “messy” patterns create superior optical materials\u00a0\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

Researchers at Johns Hopkins Whiting School of Engineering used computer simulations to study how the arrangement of nanoscale metallic discs affects the optical behavior of plasmonic materials\u2013metals designed to interact with light at extremely small scales. They found that a specific spatial pattern\u2013known as a log-Gaussian Cox process\u2013produced the broadest and most tunable range of optical behavior in advanced materials. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The research, led by Ekin Gunes Ozaktas, Engr \u201924, now a PhD student at Stanford University, was published in <\/span>Optics Express<\/i><\/span><\/a> and could help improve solar panels, photodetectors, and other optoelectronic devices that rely on precise control of light. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis kind of insight is crucial because it shows how mathematical modeling can play a central role in advancing material design,\u201d said team member <\/span>Eliza O\u2019Reilly<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>an assistant professor of <\/span>applied mathematics and statistics<\/span><\/a> and a member of Johns Hopkins <\/span>Data Science and AI Institute<\/span><\/a>. \u201cBy harnessing controlled randomness, we\u2019re not just analyzing spatial patterns\u2014we\u2019re actively shaping how materials interact with light. That matters because subtle differences in structure can significantly influence how effectively a material performs in technologies like solar energy or optical sensing.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The researchers used spatial patterns that affect how the material absorbs or scatters light of different wavelengths. They then tested three types of spatial processes that produced different disc placements, and found that the clustered arrangements generated by the log-Gaussian Cox model offered the greatest flexibility and most tunable range of optical response. This showed that even subtle changes in how the discs are arranged at the nanoscale can significantly influence optical performance.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe came up with a new way to measure how evenly materials respond to different colors of light,\u201d said study co-author <\/span>Susanna M. Thon<\/span><\/a>, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering<\/a>, associate director of the <\/span>Ralph O\u2019Connor Sustainable Energy Institute<\/span><\/a> (ROSEI), and a member of the <\/span>Data Science and AI Institute<\/span><\/a>. \u201cSome materials react very differently to light that\u2019s just slightly different in color, and on a graph, that shows up as sharp peaks and valleys\u2013what looks like a \u2018spiky\u2019 response. Other materials respond more evenly across the spectrum, which gives a much smoother response. That smooth response is what you want for things like solar panels, because it means that material can absorb energy from a wider range of sunlight colors.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

While the other two models\u2013the Bernoulli process, which introduces randomness by removing discs from a grid, and the Strauss process, which simulates repulsion between discs to produce more evenly spaced layouts\u2014are commonly used to study spatial randomness and ordering, they both allow limited tunability in optical responses. In contrast, the log-Gaussian Cox configurations provided two orders of magnitude of tunability in smoothness, making them especially promising for designing materials that can absorb a wide range of light.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf you can model the structure with a tunable parameter that correlates with spectral properties, you can search more effectively for optimal configurations,\u201d said O\u2019Reilly.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

O\u2019Reilly, who specializes in point process models, says the study opens new possibilities for how disorder can be used in material design.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMost prior work in the area has focused on periodic, evenly spaced layouts,\u201d she said. \u201cBut this study suggests that disordered structures, if carefully designed, may unlock new optical behaviors.\u201d She notes that this research also highlights a shift in how generative mathematical models can actively guide material design with targeted properties.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Although more work is needed to fully map the relationship between structure and optical performance, the team says its findings mark an important step toward using random geometry to design next-generation materials for electronics and energy harvesting.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the closest my research on point processes has come to a tangible application like device design,\u201d O\u2019Reilly said. \u201cIt\u2019s exciting to see these mathematical tools applied in such a concrete and impactful way.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The study team also includes Sreyas Chintapalli, Engr\u201925 (PhD), now at NIST.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"template":"","class_list":["post-53523","news","type-news","status-publish","hentry","news_categories-applied-mathematics","news_categories-data-science","news_categories-research","news_categories-student-experience"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nResearchers discover how "messy" patterns create superior optical materials\u00a0\u00a0 | Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/ams\/news\/researchers-discover-how-messy-patterns-create-superior-optical-materials\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Researchers discover how "messy" patterns create superior optical materials\u00a0\u00a0 | Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Researchers at Johns Hopkins Whiting School of Engineering used computer simulations to study how the arrangement of nanoscale metallic discs affects the optical behavior of plasmonic materials\u2013metals designed to interact…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/ams\/news\/researchers-discover-how-messy-patterns-create-superior-optical-materials\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-09-17T17:32:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/ams\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Firefly_Abstract-nanoscale-landscape-of-132121-hDT.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2304\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1792\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/ams\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Firefly_Abstract-nanoscale-landscape-of-132121-hDT.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Researchers discover how \"messy\" patterns create superior optical materials\u00a0\u00a0 | Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/ams\/news\/researchers-discover-how-messy-patterns-create-superior-optical-materials\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Researchers discover how \"messy\" patterns create superior optical materials\u00a0\u00a0 | Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics","og_description":"Researchers at Johns Hopkins Whiting School of Engineering used computer simulations to study how the arrangement of nanoscale metallic discs affects the optical behavior of plasmonic materials\u2013metals designed to interact…","og_url":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/ams\/news\/researchers-discover-how-messy-patterns-create-superior-optical-materials\/","og_site_name":"Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics","article_modified_time":"2025-09-17T17:32:46+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2304,"height":1792,"url":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/ams\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Firefly_Abstract-nanoscale-landscape-of-132121-hDT.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_image":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/ams\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Firefly_Abstract-nanoscale-landscape-of-132121-hDT.jpg","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/ams\/news\/researchers-discover-how-messy-patterns-create-superior-optical-materials\/","url":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/ams\/news\/researchers-discover-how-messy-patterns-create-superior-optical-materials\/","name":"Researchers discover how \"messy\" patterns create superior optical materials\u00a0\u00a0 | Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/ams\/#website"},"datePublished":"2025-08-21T17:12:27+00:00","dateModified":"2025-09-17T17:32:46+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/ams\/news\/researchers-discover-how-messy-patterns-create-superior-optical-materials\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/ams\/news\/researchers-discover-how-messy-patterns-create-superior-optical-materials\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/ams\/news\/researchers-discover-how-messy-patterns-create-superior-optical-materials\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/ams\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/ams\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Researchers discover how “messy” patterns create superior optical materials\u00a0\u00a0"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/ams\/#website","url":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/ams\/","name":"Hopkins Applied Math & Statistics","description":"Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/ams\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/ams","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/ams\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/53523","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/ams\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/ams\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/ams\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}