The world's thinnest mirror not visible to the eye is created

German physicists have developed the thinnest and lightest optical mirror. It consists of only one layer of atoms and is not visible to the human eye, but the reflection from it is perfectly visible. The description is given in the journal Nature.

Typically, mirrors use polished metal surfaces or specially coated optical glasses to improve performance and reduce weight.

Physicists at the Max Planck Institute for Quantum Optics in Germany have created a new specular metamaterial that consists of a single structured layer containing only a few hundred identical atoms. The atoms in it are located in a two-dimensional array of an optical lattice formed by laser beams, and are ordered according to a regular scheme with a step smaller than the wavelength of the optical transition of the atom. These are the first experimental results of the recently emerging scientific direction of subwavelength quantum optics with ordered atoms.

Physicists have demonstrated for the first time that even one structured layer of several hundred atoms can form an optical mirror, making it the lightest possible. The new mirror is only a few tens of nanometers thick, which is a thousand times thinner than a human hair. The reflection from it, however, is so strong that it can be observed even with the naked eye.

Metamaterials are artificially created structures with very specific properties that are not found in nature. They acquire these properties not because of the substances from which they are made, but due to a special designed internal structure.

The two most important intrinsic properties of the new mirror are the regular pattern of atoms and the distance between the wavelengths of the modeling lasers. The regular structure and the distance between atoms at subwavelengths suppress diffuse light scattering, combining reflection into a unidirectional and stable beam of light.

In addition, due to the relatively close and discrete distance between atoms, an incoming photon can be reflected between atoms several times before it is reflected.

Both effects - suppressed light scattering and photon bouncing - lead, according to the authors, to an "enhanced joint response to an external field," which means very strong reflection.

The mirror itself is very thin and invisible, but the device in which it is created is quite large. It has over a thousand individual optical components and weighs about two tons. Therefore, the new material is unlikely to be used for domestic purposes, but the scientific significance of the new development is enormous.

"The results are very interesting. As in typical dilute bulk ensembles, photon-mediated correlations between atoms, which play an important role in our system, are usually not taken into account in traditional theories of quantum optics," the first author of the article said in a press release from the Institute of Quantum Optics. Jun Rui - "Ordered arrays of atoms, obtained by loading ultracold atoms into optical lattices, were previously mainly used for studying quantum modeling of condensed matter. But now it is becoming a powerful platform for studying new quantum optical phenomena."

“Quantum optomechanics is a growing field of mechanical research into the quantum nature of light,” explains research leader David Wei, Ph.D., “Our work could help create better quantum memory or even build a quantum-switched optical mirror. another would be an important advance in information processing. "

Scientists are confident that the continuation of fundamental research into the interactions of light with matter will ultimately lead to the creation of efficient quantum devices.

Source: https://ria.ru/