Turns out you can bend things using lasers. The process relies on two key characteristics of most solids, (especially metal and glass) Things expand when they heat up Things get soft and bends when they are hot enough So the process is simple* get the whole thing hot enough that it is soft and bendy (we can use a laser for that), then heat up one side more than the other so it expands (We can use the same laser for that). Since one side is expanding faster than the other it bends. Cool it down and hey presto, you just bent the metal with the power of focussed light. This is more or less the same process as why metal can warp in the heat, but done in a controlled manner. I first learnt about this in the Universe today newsletter which cited this paper from Fripp et al investigating how different atmospheres affect the process, and how well it performs under vacuum. Why might we be interested in performing it under vacuum? Well laser forming (the actual name of this process) is being…
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