A corner reflector is a retroreflector consisting of three mutually perpendicular, intersecting flat surfaces, which reflects waves back directly towards the source, but shifted (translated). The three intersecting surfaces often have square shapes. Radar corner reflectors made of metal are used to reflect radio waves from radar sets. Optical corner reflectors, called corner cubes, made of three-sided glass prisms, are used in surveying and laser rangefinding.
The term is also used for a corner reflector antenna, consisting of two flat metal surfaces at a right angle, with a dipole antenna in front of them.
Read more about Corner Reflector: How It Works, Radar Corner Reflectors, Optical Corner Reflectors, Other Examples
Famous quotes containing the word corner:
“Perfect alchemists I keep who can transmute substances without end, and thus the corner of my garden is an inexhaustible treasure-chest. Here you can dig, not gold, but the value which gold merely represents; and there is no Signor Blitz about it.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)