SCIENTISTS at ANU say the shape of New Acton’s Nishi building has inspired them to create a new light bending material.

Researcher Dr Andrey Miroshnichenko said the building inspired the researchers to think of multiple zigzags.

“We had been searching for a new topology and one day I looked at the building and a bell went off in my brain,” said fellow researcher Dr Andrey Miroshnichenko.

“On the edges of such a material the light should travel completely unhindered, surfing around irregularities that would normally scatter the light.

“These materials will allow light to be bent around corners with no loss of signal,” he said.

The “topological insulator” has the possibility to revolutionise the telecommunications industry.

[Photo: Alex Slobozhanyuk and Andrey Miroshnichenko with models of the material structures, in front of the Nishi building that inspired them. Image: Stuart Hay, ANU]