Ultra-Thin Floating Mirrors

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dc.creatorBorra, Ermanno F.
dc.creatorRitcey, Anna
dc.creatorArtigau, Etienne
dc.date1999-01-19
dc.date.accessioned2026-07-07T02:30:04Z
dc.date.available2026-07-07T02:30:04Z
dc.descriptionWe discuss a new technology that promises large inexpensive mirrors. We argue that it should be possible to tilt a rotating viscous liquid by perhaps as much as a few tens of degrees. The tilted liquid parabolic surface is used as the support for a thin reflecting metallic film. We demonstrate two critical steps: that a viscous liquid mirror can be tilted and that an optical quality metallic film can be deposited on a liquid. The advent of astronomically useful tilted floating mirror telescopes is contingent on the development of high-viscosity high-reflectivity liquids. It is a good omen that we already have identified two classes of such liquids; however there remain technical challenges to overcome before such liquids can be used in viable telescopes.
dc.descriptionPostscript 12 pages 3 figures
dc.identifierhttps://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/9901255
dc.identifierhttp://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/9901255
dc.identifier.urihttp://salesiana.dossiersoluciones.com/handle/123456789/13708
dc.subjectAstrophysics
dc.titleUltra-Thin Floating Mirrors
dc.typetext

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