Light-Transmitting Concrete

Concrete casts new light in dull rooms, Optics.org, 11 March 2004, reports on a new concrete composite with optical fibers that is reportedly as strong as traditional concrete but also highly translucent. Dubbed LiTraCon, the material consists of cast blocks with an embedded array of optical fibers that allow light to pass through walls constructed of the material. According to twenty-seven year old inventor Áron Losonczi, “Thousands of optical glass fibers form a matrix and run parallel to each other between the two main surfaces of every block. Shadows on the lighter side will appear with sharp outlines on the darker one. Even the colours remain the same.”

See also Luccon.