'Data is so ubiquitous nowadays, but were not necessarily coming up with new ways to protect it': Researchers develop negative light signals that hide transmissions in plain sight

Date:
Sun, 15 Mar 2026 12:10:00 +0000

Description:
Scientists demonstrate a communications method that hides data in natural
heat radiation, making transmissions invisible to snoopers.

FULL STORY ======================================================================Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Threads Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Tech Radar Get the TechRadar Newsletter Sign up for
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now subscribed Your newsletter sign-up was successful An account already exists for this email address, please log in. Subscribe to our newsletter Researchers at the University of UNSW Sydney and Monash University have demonstrated a communication method that hides data transfers inside natural thermal radiation. The approach (which appears in the journal Light Science and Applications ) relies on a phenomenon called negative luminescence, where a device produces radiation that appears darker than the surrounding heat
glow in the infrared spectrum. Every object emits faint infrared radiation from heat. Thermal cameras can detect it, but the human eye cant. Instead of adding a brighter signal, the system subtly reduces that glow. The change blends into the normal background radiation, making the data transmission difficult to detect. Article continues below You may like We built a technology which uses light to control light: Finchetto CEO on ditching electronics to make networks faster A laser that can fire light pulses in one billionth of a second is set to produce structures 1000 times stronger, 1000 times faster novel technique has applications for high-performance
computing, quantum devices, and AI chip cooling Nanometer-thick magnet produced at room temperature using lasers could one day produce better HDDs, faster non-silicon processors New ways to protect data (Image credit: UNSW Sydney) Dr Michael Nielsen from the UNSW Sydney explains, Data is so ubiquitous nowadays, but were not necessarily coming up with new ways to protect that data. We do have encryption methods, but at the same time were always having to create new encryption methodologies when bad actors find new decryption strategies.

The research group built a device called a thermoradiative diode (pictured above) that can rapidly switch between slightly brighter and darker infrared states, a pattern that encodes information. To outside observers the signal blends into natural infrared noise, so it appears like nothing unusual is happening.

If someone doesnt even know the data is being transferred, then its really very hard for them to hack into it, Nielsen said. If you can send information secretly then it definitely helps to prevent it being acquired by people you dont want to access it.

Early laboratory tests transferred data at roughly 100 kilobytes per second and researchers think faster versions are possible as the hardware improves. Are you a pro? Subscribe to our newsletter Sign up to the TechRadar Pro newsletter to get all the top news, opinion, features and guidance your business needs to succeed! Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.

Future designs could become directional or even guided in ways similar to fiber systems. I was intrigued by all this, so I spoke to Dr Nielsen about
his work. Does the technology require line of sight and is it sensitive to temperature variations? Yes it would require line of sight, no different to any other optical communication method using the visible, telecommunications or THz frequency spectrum. The usual pros and cons between optical communication methods and radio wave communication methods (WiFi included) apply.

But surprisingly, it's not sensitive to temperature variations! That is, unless things get very cold (-100C kind of cold) as the negative luminescence effect actually grows stronger at higher temperatures, and this is currently the limiting factor for the magnitude of the effect. What to read next
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You do not need to actively control the temperature of the emitter, in fact, the emitter should be left at ambient temperature so that it blends into its surroundings (no temp control required). Is it practical and what would an operational product look like? It's very early days. We only just
demonstrated the effect for the first time, now the real engineering work begins.

It would be no different to a visible light LED, except this emits thermal radiation instead of visible light. So it would technically be similar to pureLiFi, which was shown off at MWC 2026 , except you would be operating using much lower frequencies? Yes, except using thermal radiation instead of visible light radiation. So if by lower frequencies you mean longer wavelengths, then yup!

The real difference is the ability to hide your communication from an outside observer. For example, when I open my laptop and go to connect to the internet, I can see all the available communication networks because I can detect their signal, even if I don't know the password.

In this case, the very signal or act of communication is hidden if the observer doesn't have the capability to look for it. No other communications methodology has this capability. But the same could be said for Lifi? The lower frequency means that the transfer rates will be much lower as well
Lower frequency of light does not immediately mean lower data transfer rates unless you are close to the limit (i.e. the fundamental limit for optical frequencies like Lifi is in the 100sTHz, but we don't operate anywhere close to that).

If I was in a room with a Lifi, I can see the optical radiation, with a camera, a detector, etc.

The difference here is that this can be designed so the camera, detector,
etc, never even sees the act of communication, even if I was in the same room as it.

You could never hide from a camera (i.e. outside observer), no matter how
fast you modulate or what encryption you use. That optical radiation is being used for communication in the first place with Lifi, because you are always only using ON and OFFs to communicate (so the time average is still
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