Abstract
Dutch researchers have achieved spectacular changes in optical properties of hydride films—switching them between reflective, mirrorlike state and transparent, windowlike state. room-temperature, completely reversible process may find wide application in such fields as architecture, optical communication, laser technology, and even photography. Scientists at the Condensed Matter Physics & Spectroscopy (COMPAS) Institute at Vrije University in Amsterdam exposed thin films of yttrium and lanthanum hydrides to hydrogen atmospheres. They found that mirrorlike dihydride films coated with protective layers of palladium absorb hydrogen to form transparent, windowlike films of the corresponding trihydrides [Nature , 380, 231 (1996)]. discovery was a rather unexpected spin-off' of research project on hydrogen metallization funded by the Foundation for Fundamental Research on Matter, in Utrecht, notes team leader Ronald Griessen, who is COMPAS's scientific director. The first observation of optica...
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