Develop photon technology similar to the light sword in Star Wars

Recently, scientists at Harvard University and MIT have demonstrated that in certain conditions, photons can interact with each other and form molecules.

According to them, photon molecules called Photonic molecules can form a completely new form of matter - something that was previously hypothetical. Combining the characteristics of light and solid matter, this physical form is quite similar to the lightsaber - a fictional material used to make light swords in the Star Wars movie.

Physics professor Mikhail Lukin from Harvard - the leader of the team at the Harvard-MIT Center super-cold nuclear center and his MIT colleague Vladan Vuletic said: 'When these photons interact, they repel and deflect each other. Physical phenomena occur between photon molecules similar to what we see in the movie Star War ".

Photons don't have mass - this is still true to the present, but if you say photons don't interact with each other, this is a challenge for scientists. They demonstrated that in a specially prepared intermediate medium, the photon could work by interacting with neighboring photons, indirectly through atoms.

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So what conditions are needed? First the team pumped rubidium atoms (Rb) into a vacuum chamber and cooled them with lasers down to temperatures near zero. They then fired individual photons into this Rb atomic cloud.

In the Rb atomic environment, the activity of photons is similar to the phenomenon of light refraction in a glass full of water. When photons penetrate the atomic cloud, they release some of the energy into the environment. The photons start stimulating the atoms on the way to move and as a result the speed of the photon immediately slows down.

However, the energy exchange between the photon and the atom is governed by an effect called the barrier Rydberg effect . Accordingly in a certain block, there are no two atoms excited in the same direction. That is, when a photon stimulates an atom, it must move forward before another photon can do the same thing.

Photons start pushing and pulling each other in the environment and behave very much like molecules. When leaving the environment, the photon returns to its original energy state (the energy is transmitted back from the atom to the photon), but they combine to form a molecule instead of a single photon.

Of course, a lightaber-like material has yet to appear in the near future, but Harvard and MIT's findings can bring many practical applications to life. One area that can benefit from the above research is quantum computing. Molecular behavior of potential photons will help scientists take a step closer to creating quantum logic gates. In addition, Professor Lukin also pointed out that with the ability to bind photon states at will, they can create complex 3-dimensional light structures and even approach light-based weapons technology. High power bright like lightsaber.