This enables a compact, multi-factor optical encryption platform with potential in: • Anticounterfeiting • Secure displays • Adaptive optical communication Paper here 👉pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs…

In our system, nanoscale surface roughness produces broadband scattering that masks Bragg reflections. Instead of degrading contrast, scattering becomes an intrinsic optical encryption layer. This flips a long-standing design rule in photonics.

Scattering is usually a problem in photonics. We use it as a security feature. We show an electrically reconfigurable colloidal COF photonic platform where encrypted optical states are invisible to the naked eye, yet revealed under specific optical conditions.