From Live Science: "Scientists use 'negative light' to send secret messages hidden inside heat." The article reports that "Researchers have developed a technology to invisibly transmit information disguised as background thermal radiation. Using a phenomenon called 'negative light,' they transferred 100 kilobits of data per second in a way that was completely undetectable to outside observers."
Using devices called thermoradiative diodes, the team created patterns of brighter- or darker-than-usual states that blended into typical infrared background "noise" but that can be read as data by specialized receivers.
The thermoradiative diodes were born as part of another project, in which the team proved that it was possible to generate solar power even after the sun had set. This "night-time solar" tech captured infrared radiation that Earth had absorbed during the day and was releasing at night as it cooled. The team then used thermoradiative diodes to generate a small amount of power.
While the initial transfer rate of 100 kbps is quite modest, Nielsen said higher speeds are achievable. The main hurdle was the availability of some of the sophisticated electronics the team required. In principle, there's nothing stopping this method from transferring tens of megabits per second with existing devices, with better devices and detector design pushing the speed to gigabits per second, the team said.
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