Switchable mirror!

Hmmmm are you thinking of a half silvered mirror?

This lets light through to the darker side, on the brighter side it appears as a mirror...

I'm sure with a solid shape some angles would exclude light transfer and others let light transfer through though.

It really depends on what you mean by 'switchable' I guess?

John.

Here in US there is a company called Smart Glass that has electrically tintable glass. A low power current is applied to a film that is applied to the glass. The effect of this can be seen in a welder's mask. As light from the arc strikes the photo cell on the face, it turns on the current from a small battery, causing the glass to block a controlled amount of light from passing through. They also manufacture a film that turns clear glass opaque when power is applied. In this application light still passes, but is so distorted that objects can not be recognised. Try www.smartglass.com

They may not have a switchable mirror, but may be able to help you achieve your desired results. Good luck, and keep us informed as you go.

A Google on switchable mirror turned out this:http://www.physorg.com/news89369874.html and this http://www.aist.go.jp/aist_e/latest_research/2007/20071213/20071213.html

Not yet mainstream technology, but will be soon...

Isti80:

The technology exists, but I have not kept up on how far advanced it is. I remember seeing a display at the Corning Museum of Glass in Corning, NY. They had a pane of glass that turned into a mirror when an electrical current was passed through it. They had it set up so you would step on a plate in the floor to activate the current. Hope this gives you a place to start.

ITT Scott

Obviously one tricky area is finding someone that can provide the switchable mirror; the other is considering the effect of the angle of incidence combined with the index of refraction of the coating materials and the cylinder form (or any non-plano shape). I may be wrong, but I believe this has only been demonstrated on a plano substrate.

Once you find a potential solution to those issues, let me know. Our company is already making some similar components (3" diameter x 6" length), and we can make the glass substrate for this application.

Good Luck

IRDglass one of the guys gave me the following http://www.physorg.com/news89369874.html link and I must admit I saw this glass before. But it is too big for my application.

I figured, if I can get it in narrow strips of upto 6" in length then it would be good because I could place them in a circle of no greater then 3-4" in diameter to create a cylinder. It would be perfec if it was available in a cylindrical shape but not if I want it to operate in a chase mode to use it in a slow to fast rotation, you with me?

Thanx to you all for the input anyway.