Visible Light Communication (VLC) is rapidly emerging as a powerful alternative to traditional radio-frequency technologies, driven by the need for faster, energy-efficient, and highly secure data transmission. A key challenge in VLC has been the development of optical materials that can guide and modulate light reliably under varied conditions.

Ankur Khapre (PMRF) and Jyothisman Hazarika (former MSc project student, now PhD scholar at ISAT, Austria) under the supervision of Prof. R. Chandrasekar at the School of Chemistry, University of Hyderabad

In a landmark achievement, researchers have demonstrated that organic fluorescence crystals can function as all-angle optical signal receivers, something conventional optical fibers cannot achieve. While traditional silica-based fibers work only as passive waveguides and require strict alignment, these organic crystals actively absorb light, re-emit it through fluorescence, and then self-guide it along the crystal. This active waveguiding mechanism dramatically relaxes angular constraints, enabling robust communication even under oblique or misaligned excitation. The team showcased high-fidelity image transfer and real-time message streaming, highlighting the potential of these crystals for compact, secure, and integrable VLC devices.

This pioneering work was carried out by Ankur Khapre (PMRF) and Jyothisman Hazarika (former MSc project student, now PhD scholar at ISAT, Austria) under the supervision of Prof. R. Chandrasekar at the School of Chemistry, University of Hyderabad.

The study represents a powerful convergence of advanced materials design, device-level engineering, and communication performance benchmarking. This work has been published in Nature Communications (JIF: 15.7) as part of a special issue on Integrated Photonics for High-Speed Wireless Communication.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-65867-w

This work is also highlighted in quantumzeitgeist – Quantum Computing News, Germany [https://quantumzeitgeist.com/organic-crystals-enable-visible-light-communication-and-image-transfer/]