In Review
LASER SCIENCE Water Proof?
(Photo: Adam Fenster)SELF-CLEANING SYSTEM: A water droplet hangs on the edge of a metal surface that has been treated with a Rochester-developed process to repel moisture. Developed by optics researcher Chunlei Guo, the system uses extremely short (on the order of 10–15 second) bursts of laser light to alter the shape of nano-sized structures in the metal to make it nearly impossible for water molecules to penetrate. Potential applications for such “super-hydrophobic” materials include sanitation and other areas where repelling water-borne pathogens is important.
