Light made to hug curved surfaces
SEP 17, 2010
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.024681
New Scientist : Ulf Peschel of the University of Erlangen–Nuremberg in Germany and his collaborators have succeeded in sending laser beams along the curved surfaces of glass spheres, oil-covered aluminum trumpets, and other three-dimensional objects. As New Scientist‘s Rachel Courtland reports, Peschel’s experiment relies on balancing reflection and refraction, controlling the laser beam’s incident angle, and on machining smooth, accurate surfaces. The ability to send light along curved surfaces could help physicists visualize how gravity distorts spacetime and the paths of photons traveling in free space.
© 2010 American Institute of Physics
