Liquid Mirrors
9 July 2007, 12:14
Categories: optics--photonics
Ermanno F. Borra, a physics professor at the Université Laval, Canada, is leading the development of a new liquid mirror that could operate in a future telescope located on the moon. The mirror consists of a pool of ionic liquid coated with a film of silver. Telescopes relying on liquid mirrors can be hundreds of times more powerful than those with glass mirrors—for the same cost—and they should be easier to assemble in space. “To put a glass mirror into a rocket, you have to break it into segments and then reassemble them,” says Borra. “You can carry a liquid mirror in a jug.”
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