Non-mechanical shutters

"Stefan Patric" wrote in message
news
On Mon, 22 Aug 2005 10:41:40 -0700, Rich wrote:

Has any progress been made on this kind of thing yet? Something like
on/off
opaque LCD windows that could be used as shutters instead of metal
ones?

These have been around, since the late 40's or 50's. IIRC, they were
called quantum shutters, had no moving parts, were optically triggered,
and were originally developed to photograph the above ground nuclear bomb
tests in Nevada.

I think Harold Edgerton, an MIT physicist, was involved in their
development. (FWIW, Edgerton is the father of the high speed electronic
flash that we take so much for granted today.) He, along with two other
scientists, formed the company EG&G (the "E" is Edgerton), to design
and build cameras and shutters to take extremely short duration
(millionths of a second) exposures of nuclear detonations or anything
that happens really fast.

Stefan


I think that you are referring to the "Kerr Cell," which dates to
approximately 1875.

Theoretically, exposures down to less than a millionth of a second are
possible, and have been routinely achieved. Do a web search for an exact
match on the string

Kerr Cell

And you will find roughly 5,000 "hits," including

http://www.elec.gla.ac.uk/groups/opto/Kerr.html

http://www.elec.gla.ac.uk/groups/opto/Kerr.html

http://www.iop.org/EJ/abstract/0022-3735/21/6/010/

http://www.iop.org/EJ/abstract/0022-3735/12/8/026/
quotes making a light pulse of 1 nanosecond duration ... the time it takes
light to travel one foot. Now ... THAT's fast!

http://kerr_cell.bluerider.com/wordsearch/kerr_cell

etcetera, etcetera, etcetera