How do you immobilize light inside something that ’s filled with holes ? That may vocalize like an rum question , but it ’s one that research worker have been grappling with to make a new kind of microscopical container that lock visible radiation in but lets fluids pass straight through .
luminousness has a habit of finding its manner through the diminutive of maw ; the little opening between your curtains , for representative , but far smaller cakehole , too . If you require to seal brightness level off entirely , then , you call for to fill each and every gap — which is fine , unless you postulate to get at what ’s on the other side .
But a squad of researchers from the Australian National University in Canberra have been play around with something they call optical metacages . AsNew Scientist reports , these ( currently conceptual ) batting cage can be built up using nanowires as bars . These wires absorb and shine luminousness in strange ways , and the team ’s framework show that 200 - nanometer wire can in reality absorb light from up to 100 nm from their remote surface
That means that , when the wire are neatly spaced out like a picket fencing , gap allow for fluids through , while light persist tightly compose into a well - defined space . The example above shows a simple silhouette of Australia trap light . The research is to be release inPhysical Review Letters .
Of course , this is all theoretical — the squad now need to in reality make the thing . But if they can do that , the cages could be used to shield living cell from electromagnetic radiation while still being supplied with fluid and nutrients .
[ Physical Review LettersviaNew Scientist ]
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