Nanoscale Light Mill
In 2010 researchers at the University of California, Berkeley succeeded in building a nanoscale light mill that works on an entirely different principle to the Crookes radiometer. A swastika shaped gold light mill, only 100 nanometers in diameter, was built and illuminated by laser light that had been tuned to have an angular momentum. The possibility of doing this had been suggested by the Princeton physicist Richard Beth in 1936. The torque was greatly enhanced by the resonant coupling of the incident light to plasmonic waves in the gold structure.
Read more about this topic: Crookes Radiometer
Famous quotes containing the words light and/or mill:
“Few colors last; with their eternal thirst, time and light suck on them, and they bleach the black doctor’s hat until it’s grey like a dunce’s cap.”
—Franz Grillparzer (1791–1872)
“This is a red wine glass. Can I get my water in a water glass, please?”
—Michael Tolkin, U.S. screenwriter, and Robert Altman. Griffin Mill (Tim Robbins)