Ethereal mirrors could sharpen vision in space

• Autores: Jacob Aron
• Localización: New scientist, ISSN 0262-4079, Nº. 2953, 2014, pág. 14
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • Tiny particles floating in mid-air can act as a mirror. In future, giant versions of such mirrors could improve the eyesight of space telescopes. A telescope's power depends on its mirror--the bigger the mirror, the more light it can capture and the more detail it can see. Current space telescopes have limited vision because it is costly and complicated to send large hunks of glass into orbit. Jean-Marc Fournier of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, Switzerland, and his colleagues have now created half of this set-up, using a single laser to trap 150-micrometer polystyrene beads against a sheet of glass--the glass replaces the second laser. To test it, the team used an ordinary, transparent ruler. When they shot light at the beads through a portion of the ruler, it bounced off and hit a detector, revealing the image of the number 8 from the ruler.