Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42191681›Full record

ArticleNature communications2026

Experimental demonstration of corrugated nanolaminate films as reflective light sails.

Matthew F Campbell, Pawan Kumar, Jason Lynch, Ramon Gao, Adam Alfieri, John Brewer, Thomas J Celenza, Mohsen Azadi, Michael D Kelzenberg, Eric Stach and 4 more

Abstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Nature communications, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

14 authors.

Matthew F Campbell *Department of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7611-0332
Pawan Kumar *Department of Electrical and Systems Engineering, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5764-2915
Jason LynchDepartment of Electrical and Systems Engineering, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0009-0008-5929-2411
Ramon GaoThomas J. Watson Laboratory of Applied Physics, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3591-7209
Adam AlfieriDepartment of Electrical and Systems Engineering, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
John BrewerDepartment of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
Thomas J CelenzaDepartment of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8740-4977
Mohsen AzadiDepartment of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
Michael D KelzenbergThomas J. Watson Laboratory of Applied Physics, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6249-2827
Eric StachSingh Center for Nanotechnology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3366-2153
Aaswath P RamanDepartment of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0106-8341
Harry A AtwaterThomas J. Watson Laboratory of Applied Physics, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9435-0201
Igor BargatinDepartment of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA. bargatin@seas.upenn.edu.
Deep JariwalaDepartment of Electrical and Systems Engineering, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA. dmj@seas.upenn.edu.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3570-8768

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

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

Identifiers

PMID42191681
PMCPMC13389247

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.