Tag: optics
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Electron, heal thyself! Making curved electron beams go around barriers
Electron beams, like light, spread out when they pass through an opening. Even highly focused beams such as lasers spread over large distances, a result of the wave character of light. However, by manipulating the wave form near its source, researchers can create something known as an Airy beam, which doesn’t disperse—and in fact follows…
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Holey metal, Batman!
Metal tends to be opaque. However, if you perforate it with small holes in a certain pattern, it will still transmit some light—even if the holes are smaller than the wavelength of the light! This is known as extraordinary optical transmission (EOT), which has found uses in a number of devices since its discovery in…
Bowler Hat Science 