Waveguides Made of Soft Matter: Structure, Characteristics and Application in Lives

Waveguides, serving as effective pathways of electromagnetic waves, play vital roles in communication. Compared with the familiar metal and optical waveguides, “soft-matter waveguide” has been proposed recently, but less studied.
We find there are two kinds of structures for waveguides made of soft matter in lives, one of which is made of membranes and solutions on both sides, which is important for electromagnetic communication in lives. We conducted both experiments and simulations to explore the convergence effect of the soft-matter waveguide on waves by changing the thickness of membranes, concentration of solutions on both sides.
Results from two methods agreed that the soft-matter waveguide has the similar properties and functions of common electromagnetic waveguides, like improving the transmission efficiency of electromagnetic waves. It’s also shown that the convergence effect of soft-matter waveguides increase with the thickness of the membrane layer. The phenomenon complies with the “saltatory propagation” in myelinated axons. The concept and property of soft-matter waveguides might shed some light on the biological wireless communication.