One-Way Mirrors :: Solarfilmco

UV Blocking Films

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Solarfilmco
One-Way Mirrors

Glass you can see through from one direction
and you can’t see through from the other direction.

All of our mirror films have the highest ratings in heat reflection and are excellent for privacy and security because of their mirror effect. All of the mirror films will block 99% of solar UV rays that cause fading damage and health problems. The 20% mirror films are all commonly used as one-way mirrors for privacy and security. The one-way feature is created when the subject area side of the window is well illuminated so that people on that side see only their reflection, which is actually an 80% reflection. This means that on the viewing side the light must be low enough to not illuminate the viewers to the subjects which means that you will need to experiment and adjust your lighting accordingly.

The following is a more scientific explaination of one-way mirrors
as explained by a Scientist at madsci.org

Date: Tue Jun 22 17:18:39 1999
Posted By: Steve Guch, Post-doc/Fellow
Physics (Electro-Optics/Lasers)
Litton Systems, Inc., Laser Systems Division

"One-way glass is coated with a thin metal layer – usually aluminum, that reflects most of the light that reaches it from either side. The mirrored glass is located between one room that is relatively dark and another that is brightly illuminated."

"When you’re in the dark room, the reflection of the small amount of light in your room produces very dim images after being reflected from the mirror back in your direction. The light from the bright room is attenuated considerably when it goes through the mirror, but is still bright enough to overwhelm the small amount of light that originates in the dark room and is reflected back."

"When you’re sitting in the light room, the reflection of the large amount of light in your room produces a pretty bright image after being reflected from the mirror back in your direction. The light from the dark room is attenuated considerably when it goes through the mirror, so that the light reaching you is exceptionally weak – too weak to really be seen as an image because the bright-room reflection is so strong."

"Let’s look at this mathematically, assuming that the mirror reflects 95% of the light that hits it back into the room it came from: In the dark room, you get the following light from the two sides: From the dark side – 1 watt light X object reflectivity X 95% mirror reflectivity = .95 X object. In the light room, the get the following light from the two sides: From the dark side – 1 watt light X object reflectivity X 5% mirror transmission = .05 X object reflectivity From the light side – 200 watts light X object reflectivity X 95% mirror reflectivity = 190 X object reflectivity So the image of objects in the light side area is 3800 times as bright as the image of objects in the dark side area. The image of objects in the dark side area is so dim, by contrast to the one from the objects in the bright side area, that you just don’t notice that it’s there."

"If you vary the reflectivity of the mirror – by changing the thickness of the very thin metal layer – you can change the magnitude of the two effects pretty dramatically. If you make the mirror 99% reflective, it will be much harder for the viewers in the light room to see through the mirror – essentially impossible under any circumstances. But you’ll have to reduce the light in the dark room to ensure that the image from the bright room is visible."

"As you can see, the real trick of "one-way" mirrors is to be sure that the folks on one side are in darkness and those of the other are in brightness. What they really do is to provide enough light transmitted through so that the people on the dark side can see the image of the scene on the bright side, while the reflection of the light from the objects on the light side is sufficiently high and transmission of the light from the objects on the dark side is sufficiently small that there is insufficient contrast for the eye to see the items on the dark side."

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