One huge hurdle to scientists searching for life in other solar systems has been the difficulty of gaining a clear view of planets through the intense brightness of suns.
But ANU researchers have helped develop a microchip that could solve this problem and potentially find Earth-like planets.
PhD student Harry-Dean Kenchington Goldsmith from the ANU said the invention, which took 10 years to make, is a tiny microchip that uses photonics - like electronics, but with light - to cause the light from the star to cancel itself out.
Confused? Think noise-cancelling headphones.
"This is all done on a micro-scale, so what channels the light will be about the width of a hair," Mr Goldsmith said.
"The device that makes everything work will be smaller than a centimetre and the whole chip on its own will be smaller than the palm of your hand."
The goal is to put these chips on several telescopes close together, near the star, so that they accept none of the light and allow a closer view to the stars than previously possible.
Until now, similar processes could only be done with optical devices much heavier than lightweight chips.
Mr Goldsmith said working with minuscule technology has its challenges.
"It's annoying when you drop them on the floor, which I've done a number of times," he said.
"And we also use a clean room to manufacture them and have to make sure we don't have any imperfections in the glass or the light won't go through."
Associate Professor Steve Madden from The Australian National University, who supervised the research, explained how he hopes the chip will help find a planet that could support life.
"To do this we need to understand how and where planets form inside dust clouds, and then use this experience to search for planets with an atmosphere containing ozone, which is a strong indicator of life," Professor Madden said.
Physicists and astronomers at ANU worked on the optical chip with researchers from the University of Sydney and the Australian Astronomical Observatory.
The research was supported through CUDOS, a centre of excellence funded by the Australian Research Council. It is being presented at the Australian Institute of Physics Congress in Brisbane this week.
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