Quantum lasers: Half light, half matter

Quantum lasers: Half light, half matter

www.newscientist.com

What is this new item in the physicist's armoury? The polariton, or exciton polariton, to give it its full name. How can such a particle be light and matter simultaneously? As is so often the case, the secret lies in the weirdness of quantum physics. Polaritons are not the kind of beasts you can expect to see in the wild. First bred in 1991 by researchers at the University of Tokyo, Japan, they spend the entirety of their short lives in tiny mirrored cages known as semiconductor microcavities.

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Lasers are not exactly my topic but it is interesting that Polariton, the new matter/light that has been produced cannot be identified of it's state. It is both matter and light at the same time. How is this possible? Can someone explain the technicalities behind it?

Quantum computing will see a watershed change in the next few years and this is the first step towards it. Imagine a quantum computer that can process your thoughts at a faster than brain speed with a thought reading machine.




www.newscientist.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

reply to post by sunny_2008ny


Good post,I see another(far off) possible use for this type of "low energy input=high energy output"technology-space travel,specifically propulsion.We have always been looking for ways to use low energy and get high energy returns.I've always said quantum physics will lead us to the major propulsion breakthrough(I guess that's kind of obvious though).

reply to post by jkrog08


The quantum energy will also lead not only to a significant change in the way we use propulsion in space travel, but also we might be able to warp spacetime by using energy at a quantum level. Spacetime can be warped with artificial gravity that is generated by the by the strong nuclear force.

The artificail gravity can be amplified and then directed towards the distant point in space we want to go to. Using the artificial gravity we can bring the distant point in space time closer to our location in space and then move to that new location and stop generating the artificial gravity, and we are in the new location in space. This can be done over a distance of light years

This is the technolgy Bob Lazar claims the US govt obtained and tried to reverse engineer from Rosewell

reply to post by sunny_2008ny


You might be on to something with that mode of thinking. This kind of research could discover all kinds of things. We may even stumble upon more evidence for the existence of the zero point field. Zero point energy would explain alot of recent scientific discoveries. Nonlocality just as an example.. (Scientists have seen proof of it in laboratories).

There is alot of really interesting laser research going on around the world.

The biggest laser ever devised has been built in Livermore, California for fusion research.

lasers.llnl.gov...

It has already produced 25 times more energy than any laser ever built.
lasers.llnl.gov...

Last month it broke the "one megajoule barrier"

The 1.1-MJ pulse precisely matched the shape necessary for achieving ignition. The main laser delivered 1.952 MJ of infrared energy.

-ChriS

Awesome thread,

So in essence, this would make light manipulatable?

Less yappin', more zappin'.

The interesting thing about Quantum Well Lasers is they basically function as ordinary Laser diodes (like the ones found in your CD player) which pass light through a crystalline medium which condenses and amplifies the rays but they're so efficient they require 1/50th the power of a CD laser.

I could see a lot nefarious purposes for these things (no I'm not being a crackpot), as the main, current limitation to military lasers is simply power constraints. Which is what prohibits them from being man or even vehicle portable.

reply to post by sunny_2008ny


Yes and the effect would likely be achieved near instantaneous due to quantum entanglement.

Does this have anything to do with the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle -- the duality of a particle/wave form that exists in both states simultaneously until observed?

I was thinking so.At least thats what it sounds like.