2007-06-29 15:00:43 · 6 answers · asked by sar 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
I know it would be very difficult to grind a lens from diamond, but I don't know of any reason why it wouldn't work.
To be honest, I don't know.
I am taking the time to write this to toss in a bit of trivia.
The only case of making a lense from diamond that I know of involved a project by NASA where they sent a probe to Venus.
The atmosphere of Venus is so acidic and hot that nothing can survive there for long.
They made a "window" (not a lens) for their camera out of diamond. Anything else would be etched and become useless very quickly.
That was before our ability to synthetically manufacture diamonds. It was an expensive feature made from a natural diamond.
It worked.
2007-06-29 15:26:55 · answer #1 · answered by Philip H 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Defects are not a problem with synthetic diamonds made by vapor deposition; the one thing that distinguishes them from natural diamonds is that they are absolutely free of defects.
Not sure, but I think diamonds are isotropic at visible wavelengths. It's x-rays that act differently depending on direction thru the lattice.
I'm not sure how, but I believe they can be ground to a smooth curve.
So I thing it is practical to make a lense of diamond.
2007-06-29 20:50:04 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
The diamond that went to Venus was just a window, not a lens. Crystals in general cannot be made into lenses because they are birefringent due to their inherent nonisotropy. That means where will form multiple images. You want an isotropic material such as glass to make a lens. Isotropic means the bulk looks the same from all directions. Crystal facets prevent this.
2007-06-29 16:23:37 · answer #3 · answered by Dr. R 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Primarily because the crystaline structure of diamond is inherently riddled with defects compared to pure glass. As an impervious window it was probably astronomically acceptable but as a refractive or reflective medium it would degrade the light more than quality glass.
2007-06-29 15:58:23 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
refraction would not be stable enough to have a constant , so the object being viewed would never look the same twice
2007-06-29 15:05:10 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
They'd be a ***** to grind.
2007-06-29 15:05:59 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋