Turns the light into matter

Scientists have for the first time found a groundbreaking technique that turns light into matter, a goal that has been thought impossible since the idea came out 80 years ago.

Light will soon be turned into material - (Photo: Reuters)

Three physicists at the Blackett Physics Laboratory at London's Imperial College have found a fairly simple way to prove the hypothesis of Breit and Wheeler scientists in 1934.

At that time, Breit and Wheeler argued that they could turn light into matter by colliding two photons together, forming an electron and a positron.

Calculated results show that this can be done in theory, but the two physicists on the other said that will never happen in practice.

However, the new study, published in Nature Photonics, shows that Breit and Wheeler's hypothesis will be achieved by 2015, thanks to the emergence of particle accelerators.

This experiment will replicate the process extremely important in the first 100 seconds of the universe, as well as in gamma-ray bursts.