Convex and Concave Convex and Concave Convex and Concave is a lithograph print by the Dutch artist M. C. Escher, first printed in March 1955. It depicts an ornate architectural structure with many stairs, pillars and other shapes. The relative aspects of the objects in the image are distorted in such a way that many of the structure's features can be seen as both convex shapes and concave impressions. This is a very good example of Escher's mastery in creating illusions of "impossible architecture." The windows, roads, stairs and other shapes can be perceived as opening out in seemingly impossible ways and positions.
Compound refractive lens the order of meters, by using many lenses in series. To minimize the absorption the lens must be made from a material such as aluminium, beryllium, or lithium. CRLs were first demonstrated in the mid-1990s by a group of scientists at the ESRF. They drilled holes in an aluminium block, and achieved focusing in two dimensions. For X-rays a concave lens focuses the X-rays because the index of refraction is slightly below unity. In a CRL of this type the walls between the cylindrical holes act as concave lenses for X-rays traveling perpendicular to the axis of the drilled cylinders.