Multicolored Mirrored Glass

To produce mirrored glass, a metal coating is applied to one side of the glass. The coating is generally made of silver, aluminum, gold or chrome. For simple mirrored glass, a fully reflective metal coating is applied and then sealed with a protective layer. To produce "one-way" mirrors, a much thinner metal coating is used, with no additional sealing or otherwise opaque layer. Mirrored glass is gaining a more prominent place in architecture, for important functional reasons as well as for the aesthetic effect. The glass is coated with, or has encased within, a thin and almost-transparent layer of metal (usually aluminium). The result is a mirrored surface that reflects some light and is penetrated by the rest.
- A true one-way mirror does not, and cannot, exist. Light always passes equally in both directions. However, when one side is brightly lit and the other kept dark, the darker side becomes difficult to see from the brightly lit side because it is masked by the much brighter reflection of the lit side.
- It may be possible to achieve something similar by combining an optical isolator layer with a traditional one-way mirror, which would prevent light coming from one direction.
- A one-way mirror is typically used as an apparently normal mirror in a brightly lit room, with a much darker room on the other side. People on the brightly lit side see their own reflection—it looks like a normal mirror. People on the dark side see through it—it looks like a transparent window.
- The light from the bright room reflected from the mirror back into the room itself is much greater than the light transmitted from the dark room, overwhelming the small amount of light transmitted from the dark to the bright room; conversely, the light reflected back into the dark side is overwhelmed by the light transmitted from the bright side. This allows a viewer in the dark side to observe the bright room covertly.