Light usually travels in a straight line – but not when it crosses a gap between two plates that are less than a wavelength apart. Physicists have known about this strange behaviour for some time, but it has proven very difficult to predict exactly what path the light will follow. Now, however, researchers in the US have created a computer model that does just that, and it could be a boon to those trying to harness the unique optical properties of tiny gaps to make more sensitive microscopes and more efficient photovoltaic cells Appl. Phys. Lett. 91 153101.
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