SuperCool World

December 20th, 2007

Imagine a world where you could defy any laws of physics, from gravitation to electromagnetism. Not a world of superheroes in comic books, but a world where liquids and solids would become super-cool matter.

In this world you would plug magnets under your feet and levitate to go to work. Electrical wires would never get hot and any liquid would squeeze through impossibly small holes. Spinning your glass of wine at a Friday night party would have it mimic a Swiss cheese pattern. Instead of seeing a single whirlpool at the center of your glass, you would observe a multiple of tiny vortices. Public parks would host water fountains spouting upward under the simple action of a light beam. You would have to watch after your coffee to make sure it doesn’t flow out of your cup by itself. And passing through walls to go from one room to another would just be routine.

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Eva Zadeh, filed in Science Writing

A Quantum Magic Trick

May 2nd, 2007

Behind a tiny door on the campus of Harvard University, hidden in a building at the far end of the Yard, a magician will reveal his tricks to you with no hesitation – enthusiasm, even. This magician has no magic wand, no black hat or cape. He coifs his ash blond hair with gel and wears Prada glasses, jeans and T-shirts. Although he moves his hands rapidly when he talks, he doesn’t intend to misdirect or confuse you.

Sean Garner has been called a magician by the scientific community because he and his colleagues achieved a revolutionary trick of quantum physics: they managed to manipulate light in a way it has never been done before. The Harvard scientists have almost stopped a pulse of light in one part of space and made it reappear two tenths of a millimeter away. They have changed light into matter, and matter into light again. This trick holds promise for the manipulation of light as a carrier of information, because it is easier to work with in its matter state.

Researchers cannot now readily control optical information during its journey, except to amplify the signal to avoid fading. The new work of Garner and his colleagues marks the first successful manipulation of coherent optical information.

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Eva Zadeh, filed in Science Writing 0 comments »