Solid Light!!

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Hellbreaker
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Solid Light!!

#1 Post by Hellbreaker »

Hey, everybody! In was surfing the web, researching powers for a charrie, and found out they've made solid light!Not only are is the potential for new forms of items high(lightsabers, anyone? :grin: ),but its primarily meant for quantum computing, which means well eventually see a new breed of computers. Here's a link below to one of the articles I read.

http://news.discovery.com/tech/gear-and ... 130927.htm
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Myperson54
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Re: Solid Light!!

#2 Post by Myperson54 »

I know the particular journal they're talking about, and I feel like I should point out that "hard light" isn't an accurate term to describe what they've done. The photons emitted don't stop in place, nor do they mimic the structure of larger particles.

Also I like how they used lightsabers instead of Omni-tools or Aperture light bridges as their example, when lightsabers are plasma.

It's neat, but a misleading title from what I understand.
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Hellbreaker
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Re: Solid Light!!

#3 Post by Hellbreaker »

Oooh, I see.Thank you for clearing that up!^^
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prototype99
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Re: Solid Light!!

#4 Post by prototype99 »

So basically it's 3d light, is that the right way to think about it?
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Re: Solid Light!!

#5 Post by Myperson54 »

I can understand some of what they've said in the journal.

In the introduction, the researchers say "It would be neat to be able to get photons to stick to each other like other subatomic particles." However, (and this is unstated in the article) this isn't normally possible because photons don't react to electromagnetism or the Strong/Weak Nuclear forces in the same way that say, Electrons, Neutrons, Protons, and other subatomic particles do. You won't get a clump of photons together with another photon orbiting them because they all have the same or similar properties.

This journal is insanely dense, but in essence, these researchers got two photons to interact in such a way that one of them reversed its phase. (This could be described as the behaviour of the photon's wave at one point.)

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Imagine one photon as the blue wave and one as the red wave. When one underwent phase change, it changed one photon from one phase to the other; Let's say that the red one became like the blue one and its wave changed, and the researchers could measure this. The photons also ended up travelling alongside each other in a state known as a Rydberg State, which.... The photons have so much energy in a very specific situation, and so they react with each other in a way that locks down a set number of otherwise-changeable values within the photons. In this case, that's the phase. Having the same phase forced them to travel together, I think? And the particular energy transfer involved in this made it seem as though the photon pair was a more massive particle interacting with a smaller one.

Basically, they can get photons to interact in a new way that makes them exchange energy at unprecedented levels, but this energy still isn't mass and it isn't material.

Good lord, is this what my friends in pure and applied physics have gotten themselves into? Neat.
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Re: Solid Light!!

#6 Post by Hellbreaker »

Hmmm....Alright....So, faster computing, but no walking on light(yet)? Too bad, but thank you for sharing this info, MP54. :) its still pretty sweet, and who knows? If they keep at it maybe people will be whacking robbers with lightbats.^^ If anyone has anything they wish to add, feel free. I don't think this is over yet.^^
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prototype99
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Re: Solid Light!!

#7 Post by prototype99 »

so this could be fibre optics v2? also from what i've read, does the large amounts of energy make it a power source? is it the wrong type of energy?
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Re: Solid Light!!

#8 Post by Myperson54 »

The energy transfer between the photons doesn't come from nowhere; it probably took more energy to force that exchange to happen than a million similar reactions. It's still incredibly small, after all. What's important about that energy is that: a.) Since E=mc^2 and this pair of photons had more energy than two normal photons travelling at c, they also therefore had more mass. And b.) The energy exchange between the photons is an amount that would normally only be exchanged by other, larger particles, such as a Hydrogen atom (1 Proton, 1 electron, with their energy exchange being equal to their ionization energy).

So this pair of photons exhibits a behaviour only seen in larger particle groups, and because of this energy exchange, the pair of photons has a higher mass than it should at that speed.

Note that this mass isn't solid or tangible; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass–energy_equivalence

Optic fiber works on unrelated principles, and that's used for transmitting data over longer stretches than this would. I can explain that when I get home from work. :P
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Re: Solid Light!!

#9 Post by puredeathly »

You explained that really well Myperson54!
I think I understood the whole thing but I wouldn't be able to explain it that well :)

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Re: Solid Light!!

#10 Post by Myperson54 »

I'm trying to explain it at the level of grade-12 physics, plus some extra understanding, since that's where my physics knowledge lies. I don't know if that's too high a grade or too low - I don't keep track of peoples ages here. Even I'm making educated guesses on a lot of these things, but until we get a physicist in here that's as well as I can understand things.

I've been told I'm good at explanations before... Perhaps I should go to teachers' college.
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