An array of nanorods can reflect nearly all light over a precise set of wavelengths, making this a promising material for filters and other optics applications.
Stéphane Collin at the Laboratory of Photonics and Nanostructures in Marcoussis, France, and his colleagues built a grid of 500-nanometre-wide silicon-nitride nanorods spaced 3 micrometres apart. The researchers then shone infrared light onto the array. Most of the light passed through, but the rods reflected nearly all of the light within a narrow range of wavelengths. The authors developed a model that suggests that the rods behave much like a crystal, scattering light many times to ultimately reflect it.
Phys. Rev. Lett. 109, 143903 (2012) http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.109.143903
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Nanorod shades soak up the rays. Nature 490, 313 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/490313a
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/490313a