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Liquid Crystals and Lasers

Posted by michael on from the weird-science dept.

Wan2Be writes "A new kind of glass pane that quickly switches from transparent to diffracting and back again. The change is triggered by applying an electric field, so the pane could easily be controlled by the electric signals of a computer, offering a powerful new way to steer beams of light."

1 of 16 comments (clear)

  1. Re:I hate to break it to you... by Smidge204 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Ah, but that's just turning opaque. This stuff doesn't turn opaque, it refracts. This allows for not just blocking the light but reaiming/controlling it as well.

    Very similar concept, almost identical process, but quite a difference overall.

    If you bother to RTFA, it says:

    "The big difference between what we do and what has been done before is that older-style glass panes contain a random distribution of drops and drop sizes ... without any order in the drop size and spacing, these older liquid crystal systems simply scatter light in all directions ... In our case, ... we're able to steer light in specific directions"
    =Smidge=