Hold a ball up to the light, and the stripes curve around it. If you were to observe the ball from the sun's point of view, however, the lines would appear straight. Exactly how these lines bend depends on the shape and size of the ball. The system is still under development, but its potential applications are limited only by the imagination. For crime-fighting, besides the possible uses already mentioned, Shirley and his colleagues have investigated using AFI to take images of suspects' ears, which in three dimensions serve as well as fingerprints in identifying individuals.
Potential uses go far beyond detective work.
Shirley and company fully realize how invaluable knowing the exact dimensions of a car door, satellite dish, or airplane wing, precise to a few hundred nanometers, would be to manufacturers. Rob Meyer is Production Assistant of NOVA Online. Opinions, interpretations, conclusions and recommendations are those of the author and are not necessarily endorsed by the United States Air Force.