News Physics

Laser builds mirror by pushing beads together

Light manipulates particles to form a reflective surface

BUILT WITH LIGHT  About 150 plastic beads arranged themselves into a micrometers-wide mirror when illuminated with green laser light.

 

T.M. Grzegorczyk et al./Phys. Rev. Lett. 2014

By Andrew Grant

- More than 2 years ago

A focused beam of green light has transformed 150 plastic beads into a functional mirror. The feat is the first step toward an ambitious goal: deploying lasers in space to assemble a cloud of dustlike particles into a giant telescope mirror.