Scotchlite
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Scotchlite is a material made by the 3M company that is made of millions of glass beads affixed to the surface. Each glass bead is covered with a metallic reflective layer on half of its surface (the "back" half) and this, combined with the spherical nature of the glass beads gives the materials their reflective properties.
Scotchlite is designed to take advantage of the retroreflective optical properties of the glass beads, collecting light from a very wide range of angles of incidence and reflecting the collected light back along a single focused line of sight. When viewing the Scotchlite surface across this line of sight, the surface gives the appearance of reflecting far more light than a normal diffuse reflection. It is used for screens utilizing the front projection special effects process, as well as being employed for nighttime high-visibility safety applications on reflective clothing and on the front of many traffic signs.
