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Science 15 August 1997:
Vol. 277. no. 5328, p. 902
DOI: 10.1126/science.277.5328.902a
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Research News

PHYSICS:
Curve Throws X-rays for a Loop

Charles Seife

It's hard to control beams of high-energy x-rays, since they shoot straight through ordinary lenses without bending. Inspired by the famous "whispering gallery" just under the dome of St. Paul's Cathedral in London, researchers have now shown that they can drastically bend a beam of short-wavelength, high-energy x-rays by making it follow a curving wall of polished silicon. A racetrack-shaped whispering gallery could trap and amplify x-rays in a future x-ray laser.

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)