Science > Physics > PHYSICAL REVIEW FOCUS 6 November 2006 http://focus.aps.org/
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Science > Physics |
| User: |
"Sam Wormley" |
| Date: |
06 Nov 2006 10:48:19 PM |
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PHYSICAL REVIEW FOCUS 6 November 2006 http://focus.aps.org/ |
PHYSICAL REVIEW FOCUS 6 November 2006 http://focus.aps.org/
David Ehrenstein, American Physical Society
Introductions to the Focus stories of the past week;
Visit http://focus.aps.org for the complete stories.
SPLITTING A LIGHT BEAM IN TWO
A beam of light can split in two when entering certain liquids,
according to the 27 October PRL. The new experiments demonstrate
the effect, predicted almost two centuries ago, and also reveal
another phenomenon: a ray can arrive at a boundary at one angle
and reflect at a slightly different angle. The work verifies a
less-studied aspect of optical physics and may also lead to more
sensitive probes of the optical properties of liquids.
(Ambarish Ghosh and Peer Fischer, Phys. Rev. Lett. 97, 173002)
Link to the paper: http://link.aps.org/abstract/PRL/v97/e173002
COMPLETE Focus story at http://focus.aps.org/story/v18/st14
Also from PRL (stories from AIP's Physics News Update):
SLOW-MOTION BOILING
Story at http://www.aip.org/pnu/2006/split/799-2.html
(V.S. Nikolayev et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 97, 184503)
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Copyright 2006, The American Physical Society.
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| User: "Uncle Al" |
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| Title: Re: PHYSICAL REVIEW FOCUS 6 November 2006 http://focus.aps.org/ |
07 Nov 2006 10:54:34 AM |
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Sam Wormley wrote:
PHYSICAL REVIEW FOCUS 6 November 2006 http://focus.aps.org/
David Ehrenstein, American Physical Society
Introductions to the Focus stories of the past week;
Visit http://focus.aps.org for the complete stories.
SPLITTING A LIGHT BEAM IN TWO
A beam of light can split in two when entering certain liquids,
according to the 27 October PRL. The new experiments demonstrate
the effect, predicted almost two centuries ago, and also reveal
another phenomenon: a ray can arrive at a boundary at one angle
and reflect at a slightly different angle. The work verifies a
less-studied aspect of optical physics and may also lead to more
sensitive probes of the optical properties of liquids.
(Ambarish Ghosh and Peer Fischer, Phys. Rev. Lett. 97, 173002)
Link to the paper: http://link.aps.org/abstract/PRL/v97/e173002
COMPLETE Focus story at http://focus.aps.org/story/v18/st14
The group used chiral liquid limonene that has a *neat* optical
rotation of 123 degrees (decimeter pathlength). As chiral olefins go,
that is a big number. As neat random structure chiral liquids (no
liquid crystals) or compositionally homogeneous chiral solutions go,
that's rather modest.
2-norbornenone has a standard optical rotation of 1146 degrees *in
dilute solution.* It's low-melting. (see US Pat. 5498799 for
synthesis of the optically resolved saturated system, and references
therein for resolution of the racemic product).
The experiment could be redone with at least a 100-fold larger effect.
--
Uncle Al
http://www.mazepath.com/uncleal/
(Toxic URL! Unsafe for children and most mammals)
http://www.mazepath.com/uncleal/qz3.pdf
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| User: "Andy Resnick" |
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| Title: Re: PHYSICAL REVIEW FOCUS 6 November 2006 http://focus.aps.org/ |
07 Nov 2006 08:59:13 AM |
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Sam Wormley wrote:
PHYSICAL REVIEW FOCUS 6 November 2006 http://focus.aps.org/
David Ehrenstein, American Physical Society
Introductions to the Focus stories of the past week;
Visit http://focus.aps.org for the complete stories.
SPLITTING A LIGHT BEAM IN TWO
A beam of light can split in two when entering certain liquids,
according to the 27 October PRL. The new experiments demonstrate
<snip>
I thought this was really cool and interesting until I saw their actual
experimental setup (Figure 2). Duh.....
--
Andrew Resnick, Ph.D.
Department of Physiology and Biophysics
Case Western Reserve University
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