24-10-2012, 01:36 PM
New Glass Serves as Window to Cutting-edge Lasers
ABSTRACT
Since 1997, Marshall Space Flight Center s Electrostatic Levitator (ESL) facility has been used to study the characteristics
of new metals, ceramics, and glass compounds - in both their hot molten states and as they are cooled to form solid materials.
The ESL provides a unique way to test such substances without having to make contact with a container or crucible that would
contaminate the sample. Simply put, objects analyzed in the levitator’s chamber float in mid-air with no visible means of
support or containment, suspended only by static electricity. While a sample object is levitated, a laser beam heats it until it
melts so that scientists can measure its physical properties without interference from a container.