Nanotechnology Now

Our NanoNews Digest Sponsors
Heifer International



Home > Press > NIST physicists show 'molecules' made of light may be possible

Researchers show that two photons, depicted in this artist's conception as waves (left and right), can be locked together at a short distance. Under certain conditions, the photons can form a state resembling a two-atom molecule, represented as the blue dumbbell shape at center.

Credit: E. Edwards/JQI
Researchers show that two photons, depicted in this artist's conception as waves (left and right), can be locked together at a short distance. Under certain conditions, the photons can form a state resembling a two-atom molecule, represented as the blue dumbbell shape at center.

Credit: E. Edwards/JQI

Abstract:
It's not lightsaber time, not yet. But a team including theoretical physicists from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has taken another step toward building objects out of photons, and the findings* hint that weightless particles of light can be joined into a sort of "molecule" with its own peculiar force.

NIST physicists show 'molecules' made of light may be possible

Gaithersburg, MD | Posted on September 10th, 2015

The findings build on previous research that several team members contributed to before joining NIST. In 2013, collaborators from Harvard, Caltech and MIT found a way to bind two photons together so that one would sit right atop the other, superimposed as they travel. Their experimental demonstration was considered a breakthrough, because no one had ever constructed anything by combining individual photons--inspiring some to imagine that real-life lightsabers were just around the corner.

Now, in a paper forthcoming in Physical Review Letters, the NIST and University of Maryland-based team (with other collaborators) has showed theoretically that by tweaking a few parameters of the binding process, photons could travel side by side, a specific distance from each other. The arrangement is akin to the way that two hydrogen atoms sit next to each other in a hydrogen molecule.

"It's not a molecule per se, but you can imagine it as having a similar kind of structure," says NIST's Alexey Gorshkov. "We're learning how to build complex states of light that, in turn, can be built into more complex objects. This is the first time anyone has shown how to bind two photons a finite distance apart."

While the new findings appear to be a step in the right direction--if we can build a molecule of light, why not a sword?--Gorshkov says he is not optimistic that Jedi Knights will be lining up at NIST's gift shop anytime soon. The main reason is that binding photons requires extreme conditions difficult to produce with a roomful of lab equipment, let alone fit into a sword's handle. Still, there are plenty of other reasons to make molecular light--humbler than lightsabers, but useful nonetheless.

"Lots of modern technologies are based on light, from communication technology to high-definition imaging," Gorshkov says. "Many of them would be greatly improved if we could engineer interactions between photons."

For example, engineers need a way to precisely calibrate light sensors, and Gorshkov says the findings could make it far easier to create a "standard candle" that shines a precise number of photons at a detector. Perhaps more significant to industry, binding and entangling photons could allow computers to use photons as information processors, a job that electronic switches in your computer do today.

Not only would this provide a new basis for creating computer technology, but it also could result in substantial energy savings. Phone messages and other data that currently travel as light beams through fiber optic cables has to be converted into electrons for processing--an inefficient step that wastes a great deal of electricity. If both the transport and the processing of the data could be done with photons directly, it could reduce these energy losses.

Gorshkov says it will be important to test the new theory in practice for these and other potential benefits.

"It's a cool new way to study photons," he says. "They're massless and fly at the speed of light. Slowing them down and binding them may show us other things we didn't know about them before."

###

* M.F. Maghrebi, M.J. Gullans, P. Bienias, S. Choi, I. Martin, O. Firstenberg, M.D. Lukin, H.P. Büchler and A. V. Gorshkov. Coulomb Bound States of Strongly Interacting Photons. Physical Review Letters, forthcoming September 2015.

####

For more information, please click here

Contacts:
Chad Boutin

301-975-4261

Copyright © National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)

If you have a comment, please Contact us.

Issuers of news releases, not 7th Wave, Inc. or Nanotechnology Now, are solely responsible for the accuracy of the content.

Bookmark:
Delicious Digg Newsvine Google Yahoo Reddit Magnoliacom Furl Facebook

Related News Press

Physics

INRS and ELI deepen strategic partnership to train the next generation in laser science:PhD students will benefit from international mobility and privileged access to cutting-edge infrastructure June 6th, 2025

Quantum computers simulate fundamental physics: shedding light on the building blocks of nature June 6th, 2025

A 1960s idea inspires NBI researchers to study hitherto inaccessible quantum states June 6th, 2025

Magnetism in new exotic material opens the way for robust quantum computers June 4th, 2025

Laboratories

Giving batteries a longer life with the Advanced Photon Source: New research uncovers a hydrogen-centered mechanism that triggers degradation in the lithium-ion batteries that power electric vehicles September 13th, 2024

A 2D device for quantum cooling:EPFL engineers have created a device that can efficiently convert heat into electrical voltage at temperatures lower than that of outer space. The innovation could help overcome a significant obstacle to the advancement of quantum computing technol July 5th, 2024

A battery’s hopping ions remember where they’ve been: Seen in atomic detail, the seemingly smooth flow of ions through a battery’s electrolyte is surprisingly complicated February 16th, 2024

NRL discovers two-dimensional waveguides February 16th, 2024

Govt.-Legislation/Regulation/Funding/Policy

INRS and ELI deepen strategic partnership to train the next generation in laser science:PhD students will benefit from international mobility and privileged access to cutting-edge infrastructure June 6th, 2025

Electrifying results shed light on graphene foam as a potential material for lab grown cartilage June 6th, 2025

Institute for Nanoscience hosts annual proposal planning meeting May 16th, 2025

Rice researchers harness gravity to create low-cost device for rapid cell analysis February 28th, 2025

Possible Futures

Ben-Gurion University of the Negev researchers several steps closer to harnessing patient's own T-cells to fight off cancer June 6th, 2025

Researchers unveil a groundbreaking clay-based solution to capture carbon dioxide and combat climate change June 6th, 2025

Cambridge chemists discover simple way to build bigger molecules – one carbon at a time June 6th, 2025

A 1960s idea inspires NBI researchers to study hitherto inaccessible quantum states June 6th, 2025

Chip Technology

A 1960s idea inspires NBI researchers to study hitherto inaccessible quantum states June 6th, 2025

Programmable electron-induced color router array May 14th, 2025

Enhancing power factor of p- and n-type single-walled carbon nanotubes April 25th, 2025

Ultrafast plasmon-enhanced magnetic bit switching at the nanoscale April 25th, 2025

Optical computing/Photonic computing

Programmable electron-induced color router array May 14th, 2025

Nanophotonic platform boosts efficiency of nonlinear-optical quantum teleportation April 25th, 2025

Groundbreaking research unveils unified theory for optical singularities in photonic microstructures December 13th, 2024

UCF researcher discovers new technique for infrared “color” detection and imaging: The new specialized tunable detection and imaging technique for infrared photons surpasses present technology and may be a cost-effective method of capturing thermal imaging or night vision, medica December 13th, 2024

Discoveries

Researchers unveil a groundbreaking clay-based solution to capture carbon dioxide and combat climate change June 6th, 2025

Cambridge chemists discover simple way to build bigger molecules – one carbon at a time June 6th, 2025

Electrifying results shed light on graphene foam as a potential material for lab grown cartilage June 6th, 2025

A 1960s idea inspires NBI researchers to study hitherto inaccessible quantum states June 6th, 2025

Announcements

INRS and ELI deepen strategic partnership to train the next generation in laser science:PhD students will benefit from international mobility and privileged access to cutting-edge infrastructure June 6th, 2025

Electrifying results shed light on graphene foam as a potential material for lab grown cartilage June 6th, 2025

Quantum computers simulate fundamental physics: shedding light on the building blocks of nature June 6th, 2025

A 1960s idea inspires NBI researchers to study hitherto inaccessible quantum states June 6th, 2025

Interviews/Book Reviews/Essays/Reports/Podcasts/Journals/White papers/Posters

Cambridge chemists discover simple way to build bigger molecules – one carbon at a time June 6th, 2025

Electrifying results shed light on graphene foam as a potential material for lab grown cartilage June 6th, 2025

Quantum computers simulate fundamental physics: shedding light on the building blocks of nature June 6th, 2025

A 1960s idea inspires NBI researchers to study hitherto inaccessible quantum states June 6th, 2025

Photonics/Optics/Lasers

INRS and ELI deepen strategic partnership to train the next generation in laser science:PhD students will benefit from international mobility and privileged access to cutting-edge infrastructure June 6th, 2025

Institute for Nanoscience hosts annual proposal planning meeting May 16th, 2025

Following the folds – with quantum technology: The connection between a crumpled sheet of paper and quantum technology: A research team at the EPFL in Lausanne (Switzerland) and the University of Konstanz (Germany) uses topology in microwave photonics to make improved systems of May 16th, 2025

Programmable electron-induced color router array May 14th, 2025

Research partnerships

INRS and ELI deepen strategic partnership to train the next generation in laser science:PhD students will benefit from international mobility and privileged access to cutting-edge infrastructure June 6th, 2025

Superconductors: Amazingly orderly disorder: A surprising effect was discovered through a collaborative effort by researchers from TU Wien and institutions in Croatia, France, Poland, Singapore, Switzerland, and the US during the investigation of a special material: the atoms are May 14th, 2025

HKU physicists uncover hidden order in the quantum world through deconfined quantum critical points April 25th, 2025

SMART researchers pioneer first-of-its-kind nanosensor for real-time iron detection in plants February 28th, 2025

NanoNews-Digest
The latest news from around the world, FREE




  Premium Products
NanoNews-Custom
Only the news you want to read!
 Learn More
NanoStrategies
Full-service, expert consulting
 Learn More











ASP
Nanotechnology Now Featured Books




NNN

The Hunger Project