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http://news.yahoo.com/scientists-may-invented-lightsaber-152606868.html
Scientists may have invented the lightsaber
A team of Harvard and MIT physicists liken their discovery to the iconic weapon wielded by Jedi and Sith alike in the George Lucas films.
The reason why a real lightsaber has never been made is simply because the physics that require individual photons of light to stick together in a deadly sword shape only existed a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. Here on the Earth, photons have no mass and don't find each other particularly attractive, refuse to interact and therefore cannot be forced to stick together to create even a molecule, yet alone long, glowing pointy weapons.
Which is why anyone who has ever received an official Star Wars replica lightsaber as a gift has always been left so disappointed. Until Earth-based photons learn how to get on, fans of the world's most successful sci-fi franchise had to make do with a long, non-retracting yellow plastic tube which sort of made a lightsaber-ish sound when swung through the air. More recent efforts from the franchise's official merchandising partners have included a decidedly breakable glass tube which, at the push of a button appears to extend -- sound effects and all -- and glow blue or red, but under no circumstances could be used to deflect a blaster shot or slice though the hull of a spacecraft.
However, that could all change following a chance discovery by group of Harvard and MIT physicists. Writing in the latest edition of scientific journal Nature, they reveal that they have indeed found a way to bind photons together and make them do as they're told. The jump from forming photon-based molecules to a Jedi Knight's iconic space-age sword is nowhere near as farfetched or fantastical as it may seem either because the scientists themselves dare to draw the comparison. "It's not an in-apt analogy to compare this to lightsabers," said Professor Mikhail Lukin. "When these photons interact with each other, they're pushing against and deflect each other. The physics of what's happening in these molecules is similar to what we see in the movies."
Thankfully the team's full study -- Attractive photons in a quantum nonlinear medium -- is written in a much more scientific, academic tone and one that explains why they were trying to build lightsabers in the first place. The discovery is an off-shoot of experimenting with photons and rubidium atoms as a way of getting photons to carry quantum information. The team found that when more than one photon was fired through a cloud of rubidium at a time, they bound together and started interacting, doing none of the things that photons are typically known for.
Although the scientists are quick to point out that the work is still in its earliest stages and is primarily being developed as a means of carrying signals in quantum supercomputers, it probably won't stop a number of die-hard Star Wars fans from adjusting their Amazon wish lists, launching change.org petitions or attempting to change career direction in the hopes of landing a job at the MIT lab.
Scientists may have invented the lightsaber
A team of Harvard and MIT physicists liken their discovery to the iconic weapon wielded by Jedi and Sith alike in the George Lucas films.
The reason why a real lightsaber has never been made is simply because the physics that require individual photons of light to stick together in a deadly sword shape only existed a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. Here on the Earth, photons have no mass and don't find each other particularly attractive, refuse to interact and therefore cannot be forced to stick together to create even a molecule, yet alone long, glowing pointy weapons.
Which is why anyone who has ever received an official Star Wars replica lightsaber as a gift has always been left so disappointed. Until Earth-based photons learn how to get on, fans of the world's most successful sci-fi franchise had to make do with a long, non-retracting yellow plastic tube which sort of made a lightsaber-ish sound when swung through the air. More recent efforts from the franchise's official merchandising partners have included a decidedly breakable glass tube which, at the push of a button appears to extend -- sound effects and all -- and glow blue or red, but under no circumstances could be used to deflect a blaster shot or slice though the hull of a spacecraft.
However, that could all change following a chance discovery by group of Harvard and MIT physicists. Writing in the latest edition of scientific journal Nature, they reveal that they have indeed found a way to bind photons together and make them do as they're told. The jump from forming photon-based molecules to a Jedi Knight's iconic space-age sword is nowhere near as farfetched or fantastical as it may seem either because the scientists themselves dare to draw the comparison. "It's not an in-apt analogy to compare this to lightsabers," said Professor Mikhail Lukin. "When these photons interact with each other, they're pushing against and deflect each other. The physics of what's happening in these molecules is similar to what we see in the movies."
Thankfully the team's full study -- Attractive photons in a quantum nonlinear medium -- is written in a much more scientific, academic tone and one that explains why they were trying to build lightsabers in the first place. The discovery is an off-shoot of experimenting with photons and rubidium atoms as a way of getting photons to carry quantum information. The team found that when more than one photon was fired through a cloud of rubidium at a time, they bound together and started interacting, doing none of the things that photons are typically known for.
Although the scientists are quick to point out that the work is still in its earliest stages and is primarily being developed as a means of carrying signals in quantum supercomputers, it probably won't stop a number of die-hard Star Wars fans from adjusting their Amazon wish lists, launching change.org petitions or attempting to change career direction in the hopes of landing a job at the MIT lab.
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