An elusive recipe

In 2020, Dutch researchers reproduced the green/red dichroic effect of the Lycurgus Cup in a 3D-printable nanocomposite material by embedding small amounts of silver and gold nanoparticles of the proper size and shapes. But nobody had yet devised a consistent, replicable recipe. University of Sheffield scientists Lisa Hollands and Caroline Jackson—the latter an expert on Roman glass—worked together to come up with one, experimenting with different furnace types, materials, oxygen levels, and at one point including sugar in the mix.

“I knew that making a glass of this type was likely to be a complex task, as it is not just a case of adding nanoparticles to glass,” said Hollands .…