Physicists can now Slow and Stop the speed of LIGHT!

Everyone know's that the speed of light is 186,282 miles a second, but what-if this 'constant' can be shown that its possible to not only slow it down to say 38 miles per HOUR, but to stop it dead in its tracks without breaking Einstein's theory of relativity, which places an upper, but not lower, limit on the speed of light.

Way back in 1999 Lene Hau led a team of scientists who did this experiment at the Rowland Institute for Science, a private, nonprofit research facility in Cambridge, Mass, endowed by Edwin Land, the inventor of instant photography.

In this odd state of matter, light takes on a more human dimension; you can almost touch it," says Lene Hau, a Harvard University physicist.

HARVARD UNIVERSITY GAZETTE ARCHIVES 1999

From their scientific paper Light speed reduction to 17 meters per second in an ultracold atomic gas the team describes the process as:

Techniques that use quantum interference effects are being actively investigated to manipulate the optical properties of quantum systems. One such example is electromagnetically induced transparency, a quantumeffect that permits the propagation of light pulses through an otherwise opaquemedium. Here
we report an experimental demonstration of electromagnetically induced transparency in an ultracold gas of sodium atoms, in which the optical pulses propagate at twenty million times slower
than the speed of light in a vacuum. The gas is cooled to nanokelvin temperatures by laser and evaporative cooling.

Main Info link Hau Lab - Harvard University

If we now fast forward to the present day this team of physicists have progressed to being able to stop light by converting it into matter, then back into light. Their latest scientific paper on this can be found here.



Since all this is way-above my understanding, I cant help but ask one question.

Since the universe is one huge vaccuum and is super-cold by many magnitudes to anything here on earth and no doubt does contain super-dense clouds of atoms [of various elemets], could this not ALSO slow down the light we recieve here on earth, their-by making calculations of distances and ages to other galaxies and stars UNCERTAIN?

reply to post by Freelancer


hi op
this has been on my mind for a few years and it still spins my mind
in all perspective with more understanding
we as a species can do anything ..on paper
but paper beliefs have produced alot
E.G
here in the uk librarys are closing daily because council has to cut spending
in 50 yrs time the only information people will recieve is through the intraweb
therefore dumbing down of populous and docile workers
slavery in 2060

sorry double post

reply to post by Freelancer
Just reading your title makes me wonder about the clocks & watches in Sicily.

Good Post.

Not being completely knowledgeable on the subject, I can only express my layman's theory on the 'what if' scenario. That being if light were indeed slowed down, would it become possible to attain the benchmark of Speed of Light and thus attaining Time Travel?

I have to say IMO that it wouldn't change a thing. Slowing down light would make it a forced action rather than natural and therefore would not render the need to attain light speed as unnecessary since it is thought to be a Universal Law.

If I catch the theory correctly, making light speed at say, 50 mph might allow us to attain time travel at that speed.

Again, Not my area of expertise at all but I don't see it as possible.

Just my 2 pennies.

SnF

Hello,

I really didn't know we can do this.

In theory Black holes do the same thing as light never reaches the super dense core, but acts as a blanket around it.

As for astronomical measurements, it might cause some anomalies, but you have to keep in mind that when we look at another start we move, our sun moves, the other star even galaxy moves so unless there is "sphere" of highly dense matter around that exact star, the math is still ok.

If we are surrounded by it on the other hand and we can't detect it ... all out measurements are wrong.


EDIT:

We have seem matter moving FTL in the water around reactors. If I recall correctly the light boom (equivalent to sonic boom) is for some reason blue-is.

FTL because light in that medium is slower than c.

reply to post by davesmart


I'm not sure I follow you. Is this anything to do with this O.P?
My 2nd line.

The speed of light is only 186282 a second in a VACUME

Light sabers!

One step closer to Star Wars!

Originally posted by PhoenixOD
The speed of light is only 186282 a second in a VACUME

edit on 17-7-2011 by PhoenixOD because: (no reason given)

hi
really?
einstein was crap at maths also
lets not bugger around with a few milliseconds off
leave that to the formula 1 drivers lol

I was reading this related article recently, a bit closer to home. Very interesting, thought provoking even.

www.heraldscotland.com...

Dr Simon Gay, from Glasgow University’s school of computing science, said: “This experiment is interesting because it might be easier to work with light if it has been slowed down, because it gives you longer to do something useful.

reply to post by jude11


Good point!. The possibilities are endless from this point onwards. With DoD and NASA funding this research I'm sure this will lead to some interesting fields of research!

So now if we can capture light and slow it down and even bring it a stop, when we release it again does it accelerate back to light speed? Would that mean we can slow down the light enough to hitch a ride with it as it accelerates back up? is this the ticket to light speed travel?

Originally posted by PhoenixOD
The speed of light is only 186282 a second in a VACUME

edit on 17-7-2011 by PhoenixOD because: (no reason given)

Wasnt the experiment done in a Vacuum (Bose-Einstein condensate) and isnt Space a vaccuum? So the two apply when quoting the maximum speed of light in this O.P.

Originally posted by Freelancer
reply to post by davesmart

 

I'm no sure I follow you. Is this anything to do with this O.P?
My 2nd line.

probably not but to explain would mean an everlasting post lol
nothing bad intended so please dont get upset
just my sarcastic british humour
regards
dave

I think we'll eventually find that our theories regarding light and perhaps many other things to be wrong, or entirely misguided.. the possibilities could be huge if we found out some of our fundamental beliefs were entirely wrong.

reply to post by Freelancer


Or we could make a big ass weapon from it ...

Imagine stopping the most powerful laser for as long as a few seconds, in theory the could finally build decent laser gun.

"Charge" most like store the laser than can punch through a tank in 30 seconds for 30 seconds and it will punch through instantly ...

Yuppy another way to kill other people

Originally posted by loneranger26
So now if we can capture light and slow it down and even bring it a stop, when we release it again does it accelerate back to light speed? Would that mean we can slow down the light enough to hitch a ride with it as it accelerates back up? is this the ticket to light speed travel?

My first thought when I came across this discovery was this. Since light is a form of electromagnetic radiation and now that it can be 'stored' temporarily in a very cold 'mass' inside a vacuum and then 'regenerated' again back into light then perhaps one day we might find a way for teleportation!.

The fact that they could form a near absolute zero gas was surprising, as sodium is already a solid at room temperature. I have already heard of solid state materials that could could slow down light and getting developed to be used as buffers in the fibre optic network. Getting it down to 17 meters a second is quite an achievement though. If there is no lower limit on the speed of light, then could we end up with negative speeds as well, go back in time? There is a lot of crazy stuff getting worked on these days.

Originally posted by loneranger26
So now if we can capture light and slow it down and even bring it a stop, when we release it again does it accelerate back to light speed? Would that mean we can slow down the light enough to hitch a ride with it as it accelerates back up? is this the ticket to light speed travel?

That's an interesting theory as well.

How one could 'hitch a ride' is the next question. Using the theory of teleportation and breaking our physical bodies down to the atom, would it then be possible to hitch that ride? My unscientific brain says no, or at least not as we understand it at this point.

Already, physicists have been able to exchange information between light particles — or photons — or between atoms, so long as they were right next to each other. 'Hitching' in mind would be attaching the two together right?

At the other end, how is the process of disengaging the attachment to be carried out if it is even possible? Food for thought.

Not a scientist but cool subject nonetheless.