Physicists have created a mirror by using a laser to herd tiny particles into a continuous reflective surface.
Optical forces from laser beams have already been used to manipulate single particles. Now, Tomasz Grzegorczyk at BAE Systems in Burlington, Massachusetts, and his colleagues have used a green laser to organize about 150 polystyrene spheres suspended in water. The three-micrometre-wide beads interacted with each other to form a crystal-like membrane configuration (pictured), and a camera was used to capture an image reflected off the membrane surface.
The method gives the membrane self-healing properties, and one day could be used to build ultralight mirrors with a large surface area for space telescopes, the authors suggest.
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Laser power makes a mirror. Nature 505, 456 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/505456c
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/505456c