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<p>Achieving laser-driven relativistic light sails would represent a tremendous breakthrough for humankind. Numerous sail designs have been proposed, but none satisfy all the stringent optical, mechanical, and mass constraints. Here we demonstrate a class of nanolaminate sails with strong and flexible hexagonally-corrugated microstructures. Our prototypes, fabricated from alumina and molybdenum disulfide using scalable semiconductor processing techniques, feature areal densities of &#xa0;&lt;&#xa0;1 g&#xa0;⋅&#xa0;m<sup>−2</sup>, achieve experimentally-measured broadband reflectivities of &#xa0;&gt;&#xa0;50%, and feature broadband absorptivities of &#xa0;&lt;&#xa0;4% with a measurement uncertainty that overlaps with zero - indicative of our sail class’s potential for fast acceleration and ultra-low photon absorption. Moreover, we propose a sail’s maximum achievable relative velocity as a performance benchmark, and analyze optical, mechanical, and mass constraints for our design and others in the literature to highlight the strong potential of our class of sails. Our approach represents a promising step toward plausible relativistic interstellar propulsion.</p>

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Experimental demonstration of corrugated nanolaminate films as reflective light sails

  • 期刊论文

  • 出版模式：

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  • 发表日期：

    2026年5月26日

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  • Matthew F. Campbell,
  • Pawan Kumar,
  • Jason Lynch,
  • Ramon Gao,
  • Adam Alfieri,
  • John Brewer,
  • Thomas J. Celenza,
  • Mohsen Azadi,
  • Michael D. Kelzenberg,
  • Eric Stach,
  • Aaswath P. Raman,
  • Harry A. Atwater,
  • Igor Bargatin,
  • Deep Jariwala

摘要

Achieving laser-driven relativistic light sails would represent a tremendous breakthrough for humankind. Numerous sail designs have been proposed, but none satisfy all the stringent optical, mechanical, and mass constraints. Here we demonstrate a class of nanolaminate sails with strong and flexible hexagonally-corrugated microstructures. Our prototypes, fabricated from alumina and molybdenum disulfide using scalable semiconductor processing techniques, feature areal densities of  < 1 g ⋅ m−2, achieve experimentally-measured broadband reflectivities of  > 50%, and feature broadband absorptivities of  < 4% with a measurement uncertainty that overlaps with zero - indicative of our sail class’s potential for fast acceleration and ultra-low photon absorption. Moreover, we propose a sail’s maximum achievable relative velocity as a performance benchmark, and analyze optical, mechanical, and mass constraints for our design and others in the literature to highlight the strong potential of our class of sails. Our approach represents a promising step toward plausible relativistic interstellar propulsion.