For the first test, the scientists had to turn their special loudspeakers way up. Significantly higher efficiencies should be possible in the future, according to numerical models. In the first laboratory tests, a strong infrared laser pulse could be redirected in this way with an efficiency of 50 percent. "The properties of the optical grating are influenced by the frequency and intensity – in other words, the volume – of the sound waves." "However, deflecting light by diffraction grating allows much more precise control of the laser light compared to deflection in the Earth's atmosphere," says Schrödel. In a way that is similar to how differential air densities bend the light in the Earth's atmosphere, the density pattern takes on the role of an optical grating that changes the direction of the laser light beam. With the help of special loudspeakers, the researchers shape a pattern of dense and less dense areas in the air, forming a striped grating. student at DESY and Helmholtz Institute Jena. "We've generated an optical grating with the help of acoustic density waves," explains first author Yannick Schrödel, a Ph.D. The innovative technique uses sound waves in order to modulate the air in the region where the laser beam is passing. The researchers have applied for a patent for their method. An invisible grating made only of air is not only immune to damage from the laser light, but it also preserves the original quality of the beam, reports the interdisciplinary research team in the journal Nature Photonics. Using a novel method, beams of laser light can be deflected using air alone.
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