Related papers: Ultra-Thin Floating Mirrors
Surface waves on liquids act as a dynamical phase grating for incident light. In this article, we revisit the classical method of probing such waves (wavelengths of the order of mm) as well as inherent properties of liquids and liquid films…
Historically, spectroscopic techniques have been essential for studying the optical properties of thin solid films. However, existing formulae for both normal transmission and reflection spectroscopy often rely on simplified theoretical…
This fluid dynamics video demonstrates an experiment on superfast thinning of a freestanding thin aqueous film. The production of such films is of fundamental interest for interfacial sciences and the applications in nanoscience. The stable…
We report on successful tests of holographically arranged grating-structures in nanoparticle-polymer composites in the form of 100 microns thin free-standing films, i.e. without sample containers or covers that could cause unwanted…
The water bottle flipping challenge consists of spinning a bottle, partially filled with water, and making it land upright. It is quite a striking phenomenon, since at first sight it appears rather improbable that a tall rotating bottle…
Recently a theoretical scheme explaining the vorticity generation by surface waves in liquids was developed [S. Filatov et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 116, 054501 (2016)]. Here we study how a thin (monomolecular) film presented at the surface of…
We investigate the relaxation of rectangular wrinkled thin films intrinsically containing an initial strain gradient. A preferential rolling direction, depending on wrinkle geometry and strain gradient, is theoretically predicted and…
Many biological materials such as cervical mucus and collagen gel possess a fibrous micro-structure. This micro-structure affects the emergent mechanical properties of the material, and hence the functional behaviour of the system. We…
Conventional mirrors obey Snell's reflection law: a plane wave is reflected as a plane wave, at the same angle. To engineer spatial distributions of fields reflected from a mirror, one can either shape the reflector (for example, creating a…
Unlike other switchable mirrors, Mg2NiHx films show large changes in reflection that yield very low reflectance (high absorptance) at different hydrogen contents, far before reaching the semiconducting state. The resulting reflectance…
We show that a nonlinear optical response associated with a resonant, atomically thin material can be dramatically enhanced by placing it in front of a partially reflecting mirror, rendering otherwise weakly nonlinear systems suitable for…
Deformable mirrors with very high order correction generally have smaller dynamic range of motion than what is required to correct seeing over large aperture telescopes. As a result, systems will need to have an architecture that employs…
Thin film technology is a most relevant field in terms of number of different applications and, even more, in how widespread the use of the technology is. Virtually all optical devices involving light beams or with imaging capabilities…
A neutron optical transport system is proposed which comprises nested short elliptical mirrors located halfway between two common focal points M and M'. It images cold neutrons from a diverging beam or a source with finite size at M by…
X-ray mirror fabrication for astronomy is challenging; this is due to the Wolter I optical geometry and the tight tolerances on roughness and form error to enable accurate and efficient X-ray reflection. The performance of an X-ray mirror,…
We describe a method that uses total internal reflection at the water-air interface inside a large, transparent tank, to measure the interface's deflections. Using this configuration, we obtain an optical set-up where the liquid surface…
A rectangular "shifting cloak", which visually shifts the cloaked object for a certain distance from the original place, is proposed. Comparing with the previously proposed similar cloaks, this rectangular shifting cloak has a much simpler…
We entertain the use of light dependent resistors as a viable option as measuring sensors in optics laboratory experiments or classroom demonstrations. The main advantages of theses devices are essentially very low cost, easy handling and…
Physical vapor deposition (PVD) is widely used in manufacturing ultra-thin layers of amorphous organic solids. Here, we demonstrate that these films exhibit a sharp transition from glassy solid to liquid-like behavior with thickness below…
Optical bistability, the basic nonlinear phenomenon mediating the control of light by light, paves the way to the all-optical logic being of ultimate demand for a plethora of applications in laser information technologies. The desirable…