Corner Cube Retroreflector can be used to reflect rays in a direction accurately antiparallel to its initial course, irrespective of the angle of incidence. Corner reflectors occur in two varieties. In the more common form, the corner is exactly the truncated corner of a cube of transparent material such as conventional optical glass. In this structure, the reflection is realized either by total internal reflection or silvering of the outer cube surfaces. Another form uses mutually perpendicular flat mirrors bracketing an air space. These two categories have similar optical properties.
Corner Cube Retroreflector is a device or surface that reflects light back to its source with a minimum of refraction. It is an optical component with the unique capacity to return an incoming beam of light directly towards its point of origin regardless of the beam’s angle of entry. This property makes this prism type ideal for a wide variety of applications, such as laser resonator cavities, land surveying, ground based range-finding, satellite communications and space vehicle docking.
In the year 1962, an alternative application for Corner Cube Retroreflector was demonstrated during the Lunar Laser Ranging experiment. Scientists accomplished in observing laser pulses reflected from a corner cube retroreflector array left on the surface of the Moon by those involved in the Apollo 11 mission.
COE Optics 