| HOME >> BIOLOGY >> TECHNOLOGY |
Cambridge, Mass. - September 1, 2011 - Exploiting a novel technique called phase discontinuity, researchers at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) have induced light rays to behave in a way that defies the centuries-old laws of reflection and refraction.
The discovery, published this week in Science, has led to a reformulation of the mathematical laws that predict the path of a ray of light bouncing off a surface or traveling from one medium into anotherfor example, from air into glass.
"Using designer surfaces, we've created the effects of a fun-house mirror on a flat plane," says co-principal investigator Federico Capasso, Robert L. Wallace Professor of Applied Physics and Vinton Hayes Senior Research Fellow in Electrical Engineering at SEAS. "Our discovery carries optics into new territory and opens the door to exciting developments in photonics technology."
It has been recognized since ancient times that light travels at different speeds through different media. Reflection and refraction occur whenever light encounters a material at an angle, because one side of the beam is able to race ahead of the other. As a result, the wavefront changes direction.
The conventional laws, taught in physics classrooms worldwide, predict the angles of reflection and refraction based only on the incident (incoming) angle and the properties of the two media.
While studying the behavior of light impinging on surfaces patterned with metallic nanostructures, the researchers realized that the usual equations were insufficient to describe the bizarre phenomena observed in the lab.
The new generalized laws, derived and experimentally demonstrated at Harvard, take into account the Capasso group's discovery that the boundary between two media, if specially patterned, can itself behave like a third medium.
"Ordinarily, a surface like the surface of a pond is simply a geometric boundar
'/>"/>
| Contact: Caroline Perry cperry@seas.harvard.edu 617-496-1351 Harvard University Source:Eurekalert |
Related biology technology :
1. Designer probiotics could reduce obesity
2. Iowa State, Ames Lab physicist developing, improving designer optical materials
3. Medical Device Designers Avoid the Pitfalls of Outsourcing Medical Tubing
4. Designer nano luggage to carry drugs to diseased cells
5. Designer molecules being developed to fight disease
6. Angela Shen-Hsieh of Visual I
7. O Named to Board of Directors of AIGA: Oldest and Largest Membership Organization for Designers
8. Celebrity Designer Ty Pennington to Host 10th Annual ADHD Experts on Call Program
9. New Videos Spotlight Science/Technology Careers and Educational Path To Secure Jobs in Them
10. BioSpace Spotlights Northern Californias Life Science Community
11. Graphenes shining light could lead to super-fast Internet
 |
| Copyright © 2003-2012 Bio-Medicine. All rights reserved. ABOUT | CONTACT US | DISCLAIMER | PRIVACY POLICY | TERMS AND CONDITIONS |  |