Physicists at Harvard University say they have managed to bring light to a complete standstill for a fraction of a second before sending it on its way. The research builds on work published in 2001 that described "storing" light pulses briefly when individual particles of light, or photons, were taken up by atoms in a gas. The new work actually stops the light pulse for a few hundredths of a second, says Harvard physicist Mikhail D. Lukin: "We have succeeded in holding a light pulse still without taking all the energy away from it." The research could allow scientists to use light particles for storing and processing data, and for highly secure communications transmissions. (AP/Edmonton News 11 Dec 2003) http://www.canoe.ca/EdmontonNews/es.es-12-11-0067.html
Posted by sachauncey at December 12, 2003 04:55 PM