Deposition of metal films on an ionic liquid as a basis for a lunar telescope

Ermanno F. Borra; Omar Seddiki; Roger Angel; Daniel Eisenstein; Paul Hickson; Kenneth R. Seddon; Simon P. Worden

doi:10.1038/nature05909

Deposition of metal films on an ionic liquid as a basis for a lunar telescope

Ermanno F. Borra, Omar Seddiki, Roger Angel, Daniel Eisenstein, Paul Hickson, Kenneth R. Seddon, Simon P. Worden

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Abstract

An optical/infrared telescope of 20-100 m aperture located on the Moon would be able to observe objects 100 to 1,000 times fainter than the proposed next generation of space telescopes. The infrared region of the spectrum is particularly important for observations of objects at redshifts z > 7. The apparent simplicity and low mass of a liquid mirror telescope, compared with a traditional pointable glass mirror, suggest that the concept should be considered further. A previously proposed liquid mirror telescope, based upon a spinning liquid metallic alloy, is not appropriate for infrared applications, which will require a liquid below 130 K. Here we report the successful coating of an ionic liquid with silver. The surface is smooth and the silver coating is stable on a timescale of months. The underlying ionic liquid does not evaporate in a vacuum and remains liquid down to a temperature of 175 K. Given that there are ∼10⁶ simple and ∼10¹⁸ ternary ionic liquids, it should be possible to synthesize liquids with even lower melting temperatures.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	979-981
Number of pages	3
Journal	Nature
Volume	447
Issue number	7147
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/nature05909
State	Published - Jun 21 2007

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title = "Deposition of metal films on an ionic liquid as a basis for a lunar telescope",

abstract = "An optical/infrared telescope of 20-100 m aperture located on the Moon would be able to observe objects 100 to 1,000 times fainter than the proposed next generation of space telescopes. The infrared region of the spectrum is particularly important for observations of objects at redshifts z > 7. The apparent simplicity and low mass of a liquid mirror telescope, compared with a traditional pointable glass mirror, suggest that the concept should be considered further. A previously proposed liquid mirror telescope, based upon a spinning liquid metallic alloy, is not appropriate for infrared applications, which will require a liquid below 130 K. Here we report the successful coating of an ionic liquid with silver. The surface is smooth and the silver coating is stable on a timescale of months. The underlying ionic liquid does not evaporate in a vacuum and remains liquid down to a temperature of 175 K. Given that there are ∼106 simple and ∼1018 ternary ionic liquids, it should be possible to synthesize liquids with even lower melting temperatures.",

author = "Borra, {Ermanno F.} and Omar Seddiki and Roger Angel and Daniel Eisenstein and Paul Hickson and Seddon, {Kenneth R.} and Worden, {Simon P.}",

note = "Funding Information: Acknowledgements We thank NASA for a NIAC grant and the Canadian Space Agency for primary funding. We also gratefully acknowledge the input from M. Deetlefs; K.R.S. also thanks the EPSRC for support.",

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AU - Borra, Ermanno F.

AU - Seddiki, Omar

AU - Angel, Roger

AU - Eisenstein, Daniel

AU - Hickson, Paul

AU - Seddon, Kenneth R.

AU - Worden, Simon P.

N1 - Funding Information: Acknowledgements We thank NASA for a NIAC grant and the Canadian Space Agency for primary funding. We also gratefully acknowledge the input from M. Deetlefs; K.R.S. also thanks the EPSRC for support.

PY - 2007/6/21

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N2 - An optical/infrared telescope of 20-100 m aperture located on the Moon would be able to observe objects 100 to 1,000 times fainter than the proposed next generation of space telescopes. The infrared region of the spectrum is particularly important for observations of objects at redshifts z > 7. The apparent simplicity and low mass of a liquid mirror telescope, compared with a traditional pointable glass mirror, suggest that the concept should be considered further. A previously proposed liquid mirror telescope, based upon a spinning liquid metallic alloy, is not appropriate for infrared applications, which will require a liquid below 130 K. Here we report the successful coating of an ionic liquid with silver. The surface is smooth and the silver coating is stable on a timescale of months. The underlying ionic liquid does not evaporate in a vacuum and remains liquid down to a temperature of 175 K. Given that there are ∼106 simple and ∼1018 ternary ionic liquids, it should be possible to synthesize liquids with even lower melting temperatures.

AB - An optical/infrared telescope of 20-100 m aperture located on the Moon would be able to observe objects 100 to 1,000 times fainter than the proposed next generation of space telescopes. The infrared region of the spectrum is particularly important for observations of objects at redshifts z > 7. The apparent simplicity and low mass of a liquid mirror telescope, compared with a traditional pointable glass mirror, suggest that the concept should be considered further. A previously proposed liquid mirror telescope, based upon a spinning liquid metallic alloy, is not appropriate for infrared applications, which will require a liquid below 130 K. Here we report the successful coating of an ionic liquid with silver. The surface is smooth and the silver coating is stable on a timescale of months. The underlying ionic liquid does not evaporate in a vacuum and remains liquid down to a temperature of 175 K. Given that there are ∼106 simple and ∼1018 ternary ionic liquids, it should be possible to synthesize liquids with even lower melting temperatures.

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Deposition of metal films on an ionic liquid as a basis for a lunar telescope

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