Crystal made of photons

[Ten oz]

Researchers at Princeton University have begun crystallizing light as part of an effort to answer fundamental questions about the physics of matter.

The researchers are not shining light through crystal -- they are transforming light into crystal. As part of an effort to develop exotic materials such as room-temperature superconductors, the researchers have locked together photons, the basic element of light, so that they become fixed in place.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/09/140909130810.htm

 

I saw this in the news today and thought it was rather interesting. In the article an "artificial atom" made of 100 billion atoms is described. Can someone explain, in a for dummies way, how an artificial atom is made. I am guess it has something to do with applying electromagnetism to specific elements to make then behave as one atom?

Also, if a person were to ingest the crystal made of light would they basically turn into superman? Just kidding

[kristalris]

And what fundamental principle could make this most probably happen other than a dynamic crystal of the Higgs field having unspun Higgs particles in spin as Gluons in strings?

 

Neigh conclusive evidence for what most probably is happening.

[imatfaal]

Researchers at Princeton University have begun crystallizing light as part of an effort to answer fundamental questions about the physics of matter.

 

"crystal*" - not included in preprint in arxiv

The researchers are not shining light through crystal -- they are transforming light into crystal. As part of an effort to develop exotic materials such as room-temperature superconductors, the researchers have locked together photons, the basic element of light, so that they become fixed in place. "It's something that we have never seen before," said Andrew Houck, an associate professor of electrical engineering and one of the researchers. "This is a new behavior for light."

 

 

lock* not used, fix* not used in this context

 

 

The results raise intriguing possibilities for a variety of future materials. But the researchers also intend to use the method to address questions about the fundamental study of matter, a field called condensed matter physics.

"We are interested in exploring -- and ultimately controlling and directing -- the flow of energy at the atomic level," said Hakan Türeci, an assistant professor of electrical engineering and a member of the research team. "The goal is to better understand current materials and processes and to evaluate materials that we cannot yet create."

 

Hmm from Abstract, introduction and paper seems the goal is more to understand transition from quantum to classical and quantum systems far from equilibrium states and their perturbation.

 

"materials" - not used in this context in paper

 

The team's findings, reported online on Sept. 8 in the journal Physical Review X, are part of an effort to answer fundamental questions about atomic behavior by creating a device that can simulate the behavior of subatomic particles. Such a tool could be an invaluable method for answering questions about atoms and molecules that are not answerable even with today's most advanced computers. In part, that is because current computers operate under the rules of classical mechanics, which is a system that describes the everyday world containing things like bowling balls and planets.

 

I thought we explained semi-conductors through the ideas of electron and holes moving through a lattice in a sort of quantum mechanical way

 

But the world of atoms and photons obeys the rules of quantum mechanics, which include a number of strange and very counterintuitive features. One of these odd properties is called "entanglement" in which multiple particles become linked and can affect each other over long distances.

 

Really? Wiggle one and the other wiggles?? That would get you bumped right into the speculations forum

 

The difference between the quantum and classical rules limits a standard computer's ability to efficiently study quantum systems. Because the computer operates under classical rules, it simply cannot grapple with many of the features of the quantum world. Scientists have long believed that a computer based on the rules of quantum mechanics could allow them to crack problems that are currently unsolvable. Such a computer could answer the questions about materials that the Princeton team is pursuing, but building a general-purpose quantum computer has proven to be incredibly difficult and requires further research.

 

That's a better stab at the difference between our binary bit and qubit based computing

 

Another approach, which the Princeton team is taking, is to build a system that directly simulates the desired quantum behavior. Although each machine is limited to a single task, it would allow researchers to answer important questions without having to solve some of the more difficult problems involved in creating a general-purpose quantum computer. In a way, it is like answering questions about airplane design by studying a model airplane in a wind tunnel -- solving problems with a physical simulation rather than a digital computer.

 

Not sure if this is meant to relate to this paper or general heading of group

 

Gave up on press at this point - the article is here

 

http://arxiv.org/pdf/1312.2963v2.pdf

 

The shameful press release here

 

http://www.princeton.edu/engineering/news/archive/?id=13459

[swansont]

And what fundamental principle could make this most probably happen other than a dynamic crystal of the Higgs field having unspun Higgs particles in spin as Gluons in strings?

 

Neigh conclusive evidence for what most probably is happening.

 

!

Moderator Note

Don't hijack this thread any further with your speculations (or with a response to this).

[Ten oz]

http://arxiv.org/pdf/1312.2963v2.pdf

 

 

Thank you for the link. There are some concepts referenced within it I am not familiar with. What drives dissapation and where does the energy go? Also, is the changing ground state do to quatum fluctuation theoretical or observed?