Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology want to put your signature up in lights—tiny lights, that is. Using thousands of nanometer-scale wires, the researchers have developed a sensor device that converts mechanical pressure—from a signature or a fingerprint—directly into light signals that can be captured and processed optically.

The sensor device could provide an artificial sense of touch, offering sensitivity comparable to that of the human skin. Beyond collecting signatures and fingerprints, the technique could also be used in biological imaging and micro-electromechanical (MEMS) systems. Ultimately, it could provide a new approach for human-machine interfaces.

“You can write with your pen, and the sensor will optically detect what you write at high resolution and with a very fast response rate,” says Zhong Lin Wang, Regents’ professor and Hightower Chair in Georgia Tech’s School of Materials Science and Engineering. “This is a new principle for imaging force that uses parallel detection and avoids many of the complications of existing pressure sensors.”

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