Who is the shiniest of all?
A group of scientists have reported the development of a reflecting surface that is highly reflective for a broad range of wavelengths and is also insensitive to the angle at which the light strikes it. The reflecting surface is made of a special material which allows it to have unusual reflectivity at certain wavelengths. These mirrors are much better than metallic surfaces because there are no losses in these surfaces. But till date, the problem with dielectric mirrors was that they could only be used if the light falling on them was at certain restricted angles. Now Y Fink and his colleagues have developed an omnidirectional dielectric mirror which promises to have many applications ranging from solar power generation to microwave antenna ( Science , Vol 282, No 3146).