Incredible new material makes heat programmable

OSAKA, Japan (ScienceDaily) A newly developed material can control and program heat, allowing it to direct thermal radiation, switch modes, and remember its settings without continuous power. Researchers at Osaka Metropolitan University paired a magneto-optical material with a phase change material known as GST. The resulting device can control the direction in which heat is radiated, switch that behavior on or off, and retain its configuration even after the power has been turned off. Shunsuke Murai of the university's Graduate School of Engineering developed the device using magneto-optical materials. The work was published in the journal Laser & Photonics Reviews under the title Reconfigurable Giant Nonreciprocity at Near-Normal Incidence via Phase-Change Magneto-Optical Metagratings. In effect, it allows heat to be programmed in a way that resembles how data is stored and controlled inside a computer chip, the researchers said. The announcement was dated July 7, 2026.