canucks#01fan Posted July 30, 2013 Share Posted July 30, 2013 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2380028/Scientists-stop-light-completely-record-breaking-MINUTE-trapping-inside-crystal.html Scientists in Germany have succeeded in stopping light - the fastest thing in the universe - for a whole minute, smashing earlier records. Researchers at Darmstadt Technical University achieved the remarkable feat by trapping it in a crystal. In a paper published this month in the journal Physical Review Letters, the scientists explained how they stopped the light using a technique called electromagnetically induced transparency. At full pelt, light would normally travel about 11 million miles in one minute – equivalent to more than 20 round trips to the moon. 'One minute is extremely, extremely long,' Thomas Krauss, Professor of optoelectronics at the University of St Andrews, UK, commented to the New Scientist. 'This is indeed a major milestone.' The physicists, Professor Thomas Halfmann, Christian Hubrich and PhD student Georg Heinze, also used the same technique to store and then retrieve an image consisting of three stripes. 'We showed you can imprint complex information on your light beam,' said researcher Georg Heinze. The results may further light-based research and could make it possible to store data within beams of light, which could then be sent over long distances. It could also give experts clues on accelerating light beyond the universal speed limit. Halfmann and his colleagues fired a control laser beam at an opaque crystal, triggering a quantum reaction that turned the crystal transparent. Then they directed a second light source at the now-transparent crystal. The control laser was then turned off, turning the crystal opaque. The light from the secondary source remained trapped inside the crystal. In addition, the opacity meant that the light inside could no longer bounce around — in other words, the light had been stopped. Through multiple trials, the team was then able to extend the period of time in which the light remained halted within the crystal until they reached the record-breaking minute. Heinze said it should even be possible to achieve longer light storage times with other crystals, because they have pushed their current material close to its physical limit. Although light normally travels at just under 300 million metres per second in a vacuum, this is not the first time scientists have managed to halt it. In 1999 physicists managed to slow light down to just 17 metres per second and then halt it completely two years later, though only for a fraction of a second. Earlier this year, researchers kept it still for 16 seconds using cold atoms. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vapourstreak Posted July 30, 2013 Share Posted July 30, 2013 That's pretty amazing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
:D Posted July 30, 2013 Share Posted July 30, 2013 I don't understand any of it, but what we are moving towards is crazy exciting Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kacholu Posted July 30, 2013 Share Posted July 30, 2013 Video or it didn't happen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
:D Posted July 30, 2013 Share Posted July 30, 2013 Real talk, if we can't invent faster than light spaceships in my lifetime, I am going to be so choked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hudson bay rules Posted July 30, 2013 Share Posted July 30, 2013 Obviously, these guys have never been stopped at a traffic light in Bangkok. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HTania Posted July 30, 2013 Share Posted July 30, 2013 So they will eventually extend people's life by slowing down light? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ilduce39 Posted July 30, 2013 Share Posted July 30, 2013 It's not the future until we have flying cars. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aladeen Posted July 30, 2013 Share Posted July 30, 2013 It's not the future until we have flying cars. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ilduce39 Posted July 30, 2013 Share Posted July 30, 2013 The future is now... but really with all the horrible drivers out there do we want any 16 year old idiot driving one of these bad boys? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TOMapleLaughs Posted July 30, 2013 Share Posted July 30, 2013 ... by trapping it in a crystal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pdc Posted July 30, 2013 Share Posted July 30, 2013 The results may further light-based research and could make it possible to store data within beams of light, which could then be sent over long distances. That would be very cool, as sort of a replacement to radio transmissions. Though probably wouldn't see anything comercially available in my lifetime. But if say the military started using it, would clear some much needed channels on the frequency spectrum for cell phones and other wireless internet devices Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aladeen Posted July 30, 2013 Share Posted July 30, 2013 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avelanch Posted July 30, 2013 Share Posted July 30, 2013 Fair enough... and to answer your question: No. Still, It's not the future until *I* own a flying car. I would also accept a wheel-less hovering skateboard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tortorella's Rant Posted July 30, 2013 Share Posted July 30, 2013 Real talk, if we can't invent faster than light spaceships in my lifetime, I am going to be so choked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avelanch Posted July 30, 2013 Share Posted July 30, 2013 We'll probably use this kind of technology as a means to keep killing one another, not further the human race Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Offensive Threat Posted July 30, 2013 Share Posted July 30, 2013 Video or it didn't happen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theminister Posted July 31, 2013 Share Posted July 31, 2013 Does this have a future application for energy storage? Dyson Sphere anyone? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theminister Posted August 2, 2013 Share Posted August 2, 2013 Holy crap. I just realized that this makes Energon real. Currency of the future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lui's Knob Posted August 2, 2013 Share Posted August 2, 2013 Did they shut the fridge? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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