Gamma ray optics: A viable tool for a new branch of scientific discovery
Wednesday, May 9, 2012 - 09:20
in Physics & Chemistry
Scientists at the Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL) have demonstrated for the first time that gamma rays, a highly energetic form of light produced by radioactive decay of atomic nuclei and amongst other used to kill cancer cells can be bent. In a new paper published in Physical Review Letters, the team used a version of the common classroom experiment with glass prisms, similar to the one employed by Newton in 1665, to find bending or refraction at the highest energies ever recorded.