Today’s Spotlight uses scanning electron micrograph images, by Jie Sun, showing the fabricated nanophotonic phased array system. These have been worked into a photo‑illustration by Christine Daniloff/MIT News.
If you want to create a moving light source, you have a few possibilities. One is to mount a light emitter in some kind of mechanical housing — the approach used in, say, theatrical spotlights, which stagehands swivel and tilt to track performers.
Another possibility, however, is to create an array of light emitters and vary their “phase” — the alignment of the light waves they produce. The out‑of‑phase light waves interfere with one another, reinforcing each other in some directions but annihilating each other in others. The result is a light source that doesn’t move, but can project a beam in any direction.
Read full article.
If you want to create a moving light source, you have a few possibilities. One is to mount a light emitter in some kind of mechanical housing — the approach used in, say, theatrical spotlights, which stagehands swivel and tilt to track performers.
Another possibility, however, is to create an array of light emitters and vary their “phase” — the alignment of the light waves they produce. The out‑of‑phase light waves interfere with one another, reinforcing each other in some directions but annihilating each other in others. The result is a light source that doesn’t move, but can project a beam in any direction.
Read full article.