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First Experimental Steps Toward Lightsails that Could Reach Distant Star Systems
The Atwater group has made the first experimental measurements of laser-induced motions of miniature lightsails in the lab.
The concept is to use lasers to propel miniature space probes attached to "lightsails" to reach ultrafast speeds and eventually our nearest star system, Alpha Centauri. The researchers used equipment in the Kavli Nanoscience Institute at Caltech and a technique called electron beam lithography to carefully pattern a membrane of silicon nitride just 50 nanometers thick, creating something that looks like a microscopic trampoline. "The device represents a small lightsail, but a big part of our work was devising and realizing a scheme to precisely measure motion induced by long-range optical forces," says co-lead author Gao.
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