Now they need to keep linking those together because even slowed down by 100,000 times the new Tri-Photon still moves at 6706 miles per hour.
TL;DR
Researchers at MIT have achieved a groundbreaking feat by coaxing photons to bond together, forming pairs and triplets, a significant leap in light manipulation. By using chilled rubidium atoms, the team discovered that photons can slow down and interact, creating hybrid particles known as polaritons. This phenomenon could revolutionize quantum computing, allowing for faster data transmission and enhanced encryption methods. The potential to create light crystals, where photons maintain a specific structure, opens new avenues for precise quantum communication, setting the stage for technologies that could far surpass current capabilities.
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In a breakthrough that sounds straight out of science fiction, researchers have developed a new form of light that could one day lead to the creation of light crystals. However, instead of fueling dreams of lightsabers, this advancement is more likely to revolutionize communication and computing, according to a report in Science.
Light consists of photons, tiny particles that normally don’t interact with one another. As Sergio Cantu, a Ph.D. student at MIT, explains, “You don’t see light beams bouncing off each other when you use flashlights; they pass through each other.” But in these new experiments, scientists have managed to coax photons into bonding together, much like atoms do to form molecules.
These experiments take place at MIT, where Cantu and his colleague, Harvard Ph.D. candidate Aditya Venkatramani, along with their team, work with chilled rubidium atoms. Rubidium, a metallic element, is vaporized and cooled, forming a cloud in a small tube where the atoms are magnetized, slowed down, and kept in an excited state.
The team then fires a laser into the rubidium cloud, sending only a few photons through. As the photons pass through, something surprising happens—they slow down by a factor of 100,000 and emerge in pairs or triplets, a press release from MIT explains. These photon groupings, along with a unique energy signature, reveal that the particles are indeed interacting with each other.
“We were initially unsure if photon triplets were possible,” says Venkatramani. While two-photon interactions had been observed before, the idea of three photons bonding was uncertain. However, the team found that the triplet bonds are even more stable than pairs, adding to the mystery of how these interactions occur.
The theoretical model suggests that as photons pass through the rubidium atoms, they briefly bond with them to form hybrid photon-atom particles called polaritons. When two polaritons meet, they interact, and once they exit the cloud, the atoms stay behind, allowing the photons to remain bound together.
Cantu and his team believe that tweaking these interactions could lead to even more discoveries. “Now that we know how to make photons attract, the next question is: can we make them repel each other?” These interactions could open up new ways of understanding energy and quantum mechanics.
From a technological standpoint, photon bonding is a potential game-changer for quantum computing, offering faster data transmission and the potential for uncrackable encryption. Since photons can carry information quickly, bound photons could lead to instantaneous transmission of complex quantum data.
Looking further ahead, the team envisions arranging photons in specific patterns to form light crystals. Some photons would repel, creating a stable formation, while others hold the structure together. “In a light crystal, knowing where one photon is would tell you the exact location of the others,” explains Venkatramani, making it ideal for precise quantum communication.
While light crystals may not capture the public’s imagination like lightsabers, the possibilities they hold for advancing technology are boundless, potentially leading to innovations even more remarkable than we can currently conceive.