Quantum Physics Leads to Perfect Mirror
一面完美镜子的诞生
Researchers created a surface that gives photons no option within the rules of quantum mechanics but to bounce back off. Wayt Gibbs reports
在量子力学的威逼下，入射到镜面上的光子都只能乖乖反射回去，形成一个完美的映像。
撰文/播音 韦特•吉布斯(Wayt Gibbs)
翻译 吴兰
When you brushed your teeth this morning, the image starting back at you from your bathroom mirror was imperfect. Now, I’m sure you’re a lovely person. It’s just that there is no such thing as a perfect mirror. Even the shiniest surface absorbs or transmits at least a tiny bit of the light that hits it.
每天早晨刷牙时，你在镜子里看到的那个人并不完美。这并不是你的问题，只因为世上本就没有完美的镜子。不论表面磨得多么光亮，镜子总能吸收或传送出去一点点入射的光线。
Or so it was thought until recently, when Chia Wei Hsu and his colleagues at M.I.T. reported in Nature that they created a virtually perfect mirror. [Chia Wei Hsu et al., Observation of trapped light within the radiation continuum]
然而最近，麻省理工学院的许家玮（音）和同事改变了人们的看法。他们创造出一面真正完美的镜子，并将成果发表在了《自然》上。
It’s made from the stuff of microchips: silicon, a layer of silicon dioxide, and on top a very thin film of silicon nitride, which is perforated by a grid of microscopic circular holes.
这面镜子使用了与芯片相同的材料。镜子由一层硅和一层二氧化硅构成，表面还又铺了一层布满网格状微小圆孔的氮化硅薄膜。
When light hits that sievelike surface at the just the right angle—about 35 degrees—the quantum wave functions that govern the light interfere in such a way that there is no viable path for the photons other than to bounce off. So that’s what they do.
当入射光线与筛状镜面成大约35°时，光子的量子波函数相互发生干涉，除了反射回去，它们没有第二条路可走。
This phenomenon should work for all kinds of waves—not just light, but also sound and even water waves. But the most obvious application is to make more efficient and powerful lasers. Dr. Evil, are you listening?
other than to bounce off. So that’s what they do.
不只是光，包括声音甚至水波在内的所有波都存在这种现象。但是，这项技术最明显的用处，还是在制造效率更高、更强大的激光上。邪恶博士，你听到了吗？
注：邪恶博士（Doctor Evil）是电影《王牌大贱谍》（Austin Powers）中的反派角色，以喜爱鲨鱼、喜爱激光、喜爱将激光装在鲨鱼头顶上著称。
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