IN CONVERSATION WITH Mr Light Mkhumbuza ON SCIENCE WISE

Light Mkhumbuza is a PhD student at the University of Graz whose research focuses on combining integrated photonics with microfluidics, essentially bringing optical circuits and fluid channels to better understand how light interacts with liquids and particles at very small scales. Before this, Light completed his MSc research at the University of the Witwatersrand School of Physics, where he worked extensively with structured light and complex optical modes. His research explored concepts such as chirality, spin, orbital angular momentum, and optical analogues of Maxwell’s demon, combining theoretical physics with experimental optical systems. He was also involved in the recent breakthrough study published in Light: Science & Applications, which revealed a surprising new way to control light using its own hidden geometry