Very cool: Indian scientists trap and store light

peeplj · Post by **peeplj** » Thu Dec 13, 2007 8:53 pm

This is very cool...what's even cooler is they are not sure how it works yet.

Scientists at the Bhavnagar University in Gujarat, India have managed to store lightin a fluid filled with extremely small magnetic spheres.

The immediate implication for optical computing is cool enough in its own right, but I think even cooler is that they did it by accident and can't fully explain it yet.

--James

Walden · Post by **Walden** » Thu Dec 13, 2007 8:56 pm

"The light is within."

"Then let it out!"

Ronbo · Post by **Ronbo** » Thu Dec 13, 2007 9:27 pm

More Cold Fusion?

peeplj · Post by **peeplj** » Thu Dec 13, 2007 9:55 pm

Ronbo wrote:More Cold Fusion?

Remains to be seen, of course, but I would think it shouldn't be too hard to duplicate the experiment.

Also that they claim they weren't expecting it, and that they don't claim they know how to explain it seems to lend them some veracity.

--James

buddhu · Post by **buddhu** » Fri Dec 14, 2007 4:58 am

peeplj wrote:
Ronbo wrote:More Cold Fusion?
Remains to be seen, of course, but I would think it shouldn't be too hard to duplicate the experiment.

Also that they claim they weren't expecting it, and that they don't claim they know how to explain it seems to lend them some veracity.

--James

Possibly true, but (Devil's advocate) if you were scamming, then giving bogus details of how you did it would hasten discovery when people tried to reproduce. "Dunno how it happened, but we did it" leaves you more margin.

Edit: That doesn't read right, but I'll leave it as is. I know they told what they did, but if it were a hoax, it'd hasted the end to explain the principles. Failure to reproduce when the principles are "unknown" could be down to variation in experimantal conditions. , etc.

No reason to think its not genuine.

Still trying to get my head around the applications.

peeplj · Post by **peeplj** » Fri Dec 14, 2007 6:28 am

Still trying to get my head around the applications.

I'm still trying to get my head wrapped around the implications.

We know that the speed of light is a constant, c, from any perspective.

Scientists have done things with light before that appear to violate c, but there is always some element of "this isn't what it appears to be" involved.

If you can actually catch and hold the photons themselves, as light, and release them later, as light, unless you are continually bouncing them around between something (and that may actually be it), then you would appear to violate c, and that means there is something we've overlooked, something we don't understand.

And that could be wonderful news.

Such a discovery could be the key that might even unlock a working Universal Field Theory...the "Holy Grail" of physics.

--James

djm · Post by **djm** » Fri Dec 14, 2007 7:00 am

Wasn't it only a year or two ago that scientists were able to slow light down passing it through heavy water?

djm

Tyler · Post by **Tyler** » Fri Dec 14, 2007 10:39 am

peeplj wrote:This is very cool...what's even cooler is they are not sure how it works yet.

Scientists at the Bhavnagar University in Gujarat, India have managed to store lightin a fluid filled with extremely small magnetic spheres.

The immediate implication for optical computing is cool enough in its own right, but I think even cooler is that they did it by accident and can't fully explain it yet.

--James

The light of Earendil?

Flyingcursor · Post by **Flyingcursor** » Fri Dec 14, 2007 11:55 am

Now if they could only learn how to save time in a bottle.

I.D.10-t · Post by **I.D.10-t** » Fri Dec 14, 2007 12:04 pm

djm · Post by **djm** » Fri Dec 14, 2007 12:11 pm

djm

drruthless · Post by **drruthless** » Fri Dec 14, 2007 12:16 pm

Ah… that’s nothing.. Native Americans have been carrying around the spirits of their history and ancestors in stone since they first walked on this earth.. .. Someday pickup a small stone or rock that catches your eye and gaze at it for a bit.. or let it look at you. The longer you hold it the better.. Pretty soon don’t be surprised if you don’t start seeing things you never noticed before. Some cultures and religions believe that spirits dwell in all things of the earth.. The first ones knew that as just as a matter of fact….go ask an Indian….Der Doktor ist heraus!
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The Weekenders · Post by **The Weekenders** » Fri Dec 14, 2007 12:36 pm

hmm....photons in a bottle.

How about in a torpedo???

Tyler · Post by **Tyler** » Fri Dec 14, 2007 1:16 pm

The Weekenders wrote:hmm....photons in a bottle.

How about in a torpedo???

Ppphfffff!! That's SO 1966!

Innocent Bystander · Post by **Innocent Bystander** » Fri Dec 14, 2007 2:02 pm

"Dunno how we did it but we did it" sounds like my customers, some of whom are Indian. It's swiftly followed by

"Can you fix it?"

Chiff and Fipple Forums

Very cool: Indian scientists trap and store light

Very cool: Indian scientists trap and store light

Re: Very cool: Indian scientists trap and store light