MiG
26-04-2005, 12:30 AM
I'm not sure that this is yet (if ever) applicable to telescopes, but it's interesting nonetheless.
http://physicsweb.org/articles/news/9/4/12/1
The illustration seems to show the image plane being tens of nanometers away and the article speaks of microscopes and lithography. Maybe this is only a small scale thing?
Edit: Here's a post from slashdot.
"This has absolutely no relevence to remote sensing or long-distance imaging in any way. Evanescent waves are "vanishing waves." That means that they disappear within a few wavelengths of the surface from which they are emitted. The "superlens" must be located close enough to the object to collect evanescent waves in order to work. Thus, the primary application is microscopy."
http://physicsweb.org/articles/news/9/4/12/1
The illustration seems to show the image plane being tens of nanometers away and the article speaks of microscopes and lithography. Maybe this is only a small scale thing?
Edit: Here's a post from slashdot.
"This has absolutely no relevence to remote sensing or long-distance imaging in any way. Evanescent waves are "vanishing waves." That means that they disappear within a few wavelengths of the surface from which they are emitted. The "superlens" must be located close enough to the object to collect evanescent waves in order to work. Thus, the primary application is microscopy."