Liquid Crystals and Lasers

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."

Comments

Re:Too slow for communications

[x00101010x]

You are correct, too slow for communications.

However, many areas of manufacturing these days use lasers, and these would be plenty fast for those applications. They would also get rid of moving parts, which is great since many manufacturing environments contain large amounts of airborne debris which require anything with moving parts to me continually maintained/replaced.

So, maybe not fast enough for communication, but fast enough for other things. Also, given enough time, it could catch up with desirable data speeds..

Great thing for rear windows on cars

[tjstork]

Or driver side mirrors. As soon as some SUV does the brights on you, just turn your windows to black...

Re:Great thing for rear windows on cars

[henrygb]

... or for a variable sun roof. The Maybach 62 - a Mercedes for people with too much money - has an adjustable rear roof. "The laminated glass pane on the inside has an intermediate layer in the form of a liquid crystal membrane of conductive polymer plastic. The membrane has a cable connection to a control unit which generates an AC output of 90 volts. Switching the power on arranges the crystals in the plastic membrane in such a way that the glass becomes transparent and allows daylight into the rear of the Maybach 62 over its entire area. The special feature is that as soon as the AC voltage is switched off, the liquid crystals lose their transparent arrangement and the light is fragmented in all directions. The glass becomes opaque and filters the daylight to produce a pleasant, diffused glow, with only approx. 76 per cent reaching the interior. This electrically controlled transparency has its world premiere in the Maybach 62. Thanks to this unique roof technology the rear passengers in this luxury motor car can decide in accordance with their mood or the weather conditions whether to enjoy a bright interior flooded with daylight in which to admire an exclusive, panoramic view of the scenery, or whether to relax beneath a semi-transparent glass dome."