The laser produces super-fast currents, which can be used to adjust matter

We have a glass fiber 1,000 times thinner than a strand of hair, taking it to connect two pieces of metal, firing a laser in the range of 0.0000 trillion seconds. We will have miracles.

In a very short moment, this glass-like material will be transformed into a metal-like thing. The laser will create a strong electric current running through this small circuit. The power generation speed of this method is faster than any traditional power generation method. Furthermore, current direction and intensity can be controlled by different laser shapes.

Picture 1 of The laser produces super-fast currents, which can be used to adjust matter
The power generation speed of this method is faster than any traditional power generation method.

There is a researcher at the University of Rochester, who has a hypothetical prediction that lasers can generate ultra-fast currents through a nanoscale-tiny junction, believing he can explain how and why. Scientists have created this current in practice.

Ignacio Franco, assistant professor of chemistry and physics, said: "This experiment has marked a new pioneering flag in controlling the electron beams . " He collaborated with Liping Chen, a postdoctoral research associate, Yu Chang and GuanHua Chen at Hong Kong University, creating a computer model to reproduce and clarify what happened in the experiment. on. This study was published in Nature.

Picture 2 of The laser produces super-fast currents, which can be used to adjust matter
Current direction and intensity can be controlled by different laser shapes.

"You can't make a car thanks to this technology, but you can generate electricity faster than ever before , " Franco said. "You will be able to develop a nanoscale circuit and operate in an ultra-low time frame. But, more importantly, this will be a great test showing that different materials can be pushed away from the state. "Equilibrium. The nano-vibrating laser beam is so powerful that it even changes its properties. This tells us that we can use light to regulate the inner workings."

The US Department of Energy also lists "electron-level physical control" on the list of key challenges that scientists need to overcome. They want to understand what material will be like if they push very far from equilibrium.

From the hypothesis to testing and then explaining

In 2007, the US Department of Energy made the statement. That same year, Franco, who was a student at the University of Toronto at the time, was the author of a study in Physical Review Letters with the hypothesis that an extremely fast, extremely strong current could be generated by a laser shoots at a small wire at the molecular level.

This molecular level wire is made of carbon, connecting two pieces of metal to create a nano level connector. The current comes from the Stark effect, the effect at which the energy level of the material will be altered based on the appearance of a laser electromagnetic field. But the theory just stops there, it is difficult to make such thin wires and it is difficult to measure what happens before the laser destroys this ultra-thin connector.

Until 2013, the research experiment was led by Ferenc Krausz at the Max Planck Institute for Quantum Optics to produce a super-fast electric current by a laser shot at a joint. Unlike Franco's hypothesis, this connector is made of glass that connects two electrodes made of gold.

Picture 3 of The laser produces super-fast currents, which can be used to adjust matter
This molecular level wire is made of carbon, connecting two pieces of metal to create a nano level connector.

It is unclear why it was successful. Researchers continue to hypothesize further. But despite the other component, Franco researcher still suspects that this is the Stark effect , which he mentioned in the 2007 hypothesis.

It took four years to create a computer emulator program, taking millions of hours of supercomputing computing, Franco had the final conclusion. This research shows that hypothesis and experimentation are always companion in scientific development.

"Hypothesis leads to an experiment that no one knows why it is successful, and then gives more theories to get more successful experiments," Franco said. "This is an area where we still need to learn a lot."