I was wondering if light can be reflected how can someone reflect X-ray of what material does it need to be made of and is its design completely different to that of our original mirrors? Does this mean during long-space voyages in which radiation is an problem why can scientists not develop large panels of X-ray mirrors and Gamma-Mirrors and simply reflect the radiation off rather than worry about that?
[Physics] How would an X-ray mirror work
everyday-lifeopticsphotonsreflectionx-rays
Best Answer
Unfortunately X-ray and gamma mirrors are impossible to build the way you think - mainly because there is much less interaction with the matter comparing to UV - it will go through all materials commonly used for making mirrors. Even for EUV light (wavelength of 13.5nm) building effective mirrors is a royal pain.
As wavelength of X-Rays is very small (down to 0.01nm) you cannot build dielectric mirrors, as this would require depositing dielectric layers which are less than 1 atom thick.
It is only possible to reflect X-Rays at a very shallow angle (see Kirkpatrick-Baez X-Ray lens design), so you cannot use this for shielding of radiation coming from all directions. Gammas are even worse - the only thing you can do is to bring alot of mass.