Waves and light beams can bend without diffraction. What are the potential applications of this new discovery?

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• 
  Muzaffar Lone · Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics

  Http://physics.aps.org/articles/v5/44

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  Http://physics.aps.org/articles/v5/44

  Apr 20, 2012
• 
  Edward Rietman · Tufts University

  Http://arxiv.org/pdf/1201.0300v2.pdf

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  Http://arxiv.org/pdf/1201.0300v2.pdf

  Apr 20, 2012
• 
  Mihai Dima · CERN

  Berry indeed. Geometrical phase permits in (3+1)D any bending that preserves wave-packets: http://dx.doi.org/10.1134/1.1348476

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  Berry indeed. Geometrical phase permits in (3+1)D any bending that preserves wave-packets:
  http://dx.doi.org/10.1134/1.1348476

  Apr 20, 2012
• 
  J. Erath · University of Bayreuth

  See publications by Wegener: Institut für Angewandte Physik KIT http://www.aph.kit.edu/wegener/77.php http://www.cfn.kit.edu/223_1237.php

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  See publications by Wegener: Institut für Angewandte Physik KIT
  http://www.aph.kit.edu/wegener/77.php
  http://www.cfn.kit.edu/223_1237.php

  Apr 20, 2012
• 
  Shehzadul Haq · doha british school

  This had a big influence in the development of the invisible cloak

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  This had a big influence in the development of the invisible cloak

  Apr 20, 2012
• 
  Bob Copeland · Centennial College

  It never ceases to amaze me how our latest discovers were guessed years ago. My favorite one is the Greek gentleman that mentioned atoms about 2 - 3 thousand years ago.

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  It never ceases to amaze me how our latest discovers were guessed years ago. My favorite one is the Greek gentleman that mentioned atoms about 2 - 3 thousand years ago.

  Apr 20, 2012
• 
  Otim Odong · University of Connecticut

  If the statement is actually true, then there has to be applications in communications and information storage. I am still trying to figure out how.

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  If the statement is actually true, then there has to be applications in communications and information storage. I am still trying to figure out how.

  Apr 20, 2012
• 
  Adam Jacholkowski · CERN

  I was not aware about it, but as a particle physicist my first reaction is - great, it will be (maybe) possible to construct a photon storage ring to study, in a clean way, photon-photon interactions ? Actually such photons following a circular path can be forseen to exist only in the vicinity of a black hole.

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  I was not aware about it, but as a particle physicist my first reaction is - great, it will be (maybe) possible to construct a photon storage ring to study, in a clean way, photon-photon interactions ? Actually such photons following a circular path can be forseen to exist only in the vicinity of a black hole.

  Apr 20, 2012
• 
  Tjeerd Schaafsma · Wageningen University

  Very interesting, but I do not have any idea of possible applications

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  Very interesting, but I do not have any idea of possible applications

  Apr 20, 2012
• 
  Kenneth Ricci · Adelphi Technology Incorporated

  Beautiful results derived from the fundamental theory of waves, and numerical methods to solve wave equations. This shows that there are still tricks and surprises left at the intersection between applied mathematics and wave packets/wave propagation theory. I don't see *ANY* applications here related to invisibility/concealment -- the effect described in the paper would only work if you prepared special wave-packets or beams with highly specialized distribution/properties, so it is irrelevant to evading "ordinary" waves/beams like ordinary sunlight, ordinary radar, ordinary sonar, etc. However, there are probably lots of applications for *detection* --consider any application where you wish you could "see around the corner" so to speak-- a curving wave-packet or wave-beam might find an application there. I am imagining applications not only in communications, but also in medical devices and, (unfortunately?), military/weapons applications. One of the articles on this subject points out that this result was solved for the Maxwell wave equations, but similar results might hold for other wave equations including, for example, acoustic wave propagation in fluids and solids, or plasma wave propagation. That might yield new tricks in sonar (underwater detection, not invisibility) and in plasma soliton propagation for directed-energy weapons in air. And for example in the use of guiding acoustic waves or radio/microwaves to a target inside the body for medical applications. There might be a geophysical application somewhere, but only where the media (air, water?) are uniform enough-- it would not work in the non-uniform media of sold earth for example, because the carefully-crafted wave-packets or wave-beams would break up due to the irregularities of mineral formations.

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  Beautiful results derived from the fundamental theory of waves, and numerical methods to solve wave equations. This shows that there are still tricks and surprises left at the intersection between applied mathematics and wave packets/wave propagation theory. I don't see *ANY* applications here related to invisibility/concealment -- the effect described in the paper would only work if you prepared special wave-packets or beams with highly specialized distribution/properties, so it is irrelevant to evading "ordinary" waves/beams like ordinary sunlight, ordinary radar, ordinary sonar, etc. However, there are probably lots of applications for *detection* --consider any application where you wish you could "see around the corner" so to speak-- a curving wave-packet or wave-beam might find an application there. I am imagining applications not only in communications, but also in medical devices and, (unfortunately?), military/weapons applications. One of the articles on this subject points out that this result was solved for the Maxwell wave equations, but similar results might hold for other wave equations including, for example, acoustic wave propagation in fluids and solids, or plasma wave propagation. That might yield new tricks in sonar (underwater detection, not invisibility) and in plasma soliton propagation for directed-energy weapons in air. And for example in the use of guiding acoustic waves or radio/microwaves to a target inside the body for medical applications. There might be a geophysical application somewhere, but only where the media (air, water?) are uniform enough-- it would not work in the non-uniform media of sold earth for example, because the carefully-crafted wave-packets or wave-beams would break up due to the irregularities of mineral formations.

  Apr 20, 2012
• 
  Fabiano francisco dos santos · Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia de Goiás (IFG)

  would be interesting if there were. so would have a new view of physics. I liked the idea. and point of view of quantum optics would like this new vision.

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  would be interesting if there were. so would have a new view of physics. I liked the idea.
  and point of view of quantum optics would like this new vision.

  Apr 20, 2012
• 
  Graeme Smith ·

  Otim Odong:"If the statement is actually true, then there has to be applications in communications and information storage. I am still trying to figure out how." Photon storage rings might be a required part of FTL (optical) transmission. You send the photon schroedinger cats, and store them in the photon storage ring, until you need that particular packet, then let them out again. As long as storage and retrieval does not result in wave-packet collapse you can synchronize the packets between transmitter and receiver.

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  Otim Odong:"If the statement is actually true, then there has to be applications in communications and information storage. I am still trying to figure out how."
  
  Photon storage rings might be a required part of FTL (optical) transmission.
  
  You send the photon schroedinger cats, and store them in the photon storage ring, until you need that particular packet, then let them out again. As long as storage and retrieval does not result in wave-packet collapse you can synchronize the packets between transmitter and receiver.

  Apr 20, 2012
• 
  Tapio Ala-Nissila · Aalto University

  Could a photon storage ring be constructed to store energy with (practically) zero losses?

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  Could a photon storage ring be constructed to store energy with (practically) zero losses?

  Apr 20, 2012
• 
  Altaf Karim · Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

  1) This development paves the way for fast-as-light, ultra-compact communication systems and optoelectronic devices. 2) This is promising not only for applications in reconfigurable optical interconnections but also for precisely manipulating particles on extremely small scales. 3) It's promising for applications of nanolithography or nanoimaging. For example, in nano-photonics, it enables researchers to design practical reconfigurable plasmonic sensors or perform nano-particle tweezing on microchips. In biology and chemistry, it allows researchers to dynamically manipulate molecules. Check out the folloiwng link for more details: http://newscenter.lbl.gov/feature-stories/2011/08/11/shooting-light-a-curve/

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  1) This development paves the way for fast-as-light, ultra-compact communication systems and optoelectronic devices.
  2) This is promising not only for applications in reconfigurable optical interconnections but also for precisely manipulating particles on extremely small scales.
  3) It's promising for applications of nanolithography or nanoimaging. For example, in nano-photonics, it enables researchers to design practical reconfigurable plasmonic sensors or perform nano-particle tweezing on microchips. In biology and chemistry, it allows researchers to dynamically manipulate molecules.
  Check out the folloiwng link for more details:
  http://newscenter.lbl.gov/feature-stories/2011/08/11/shooting-light-a-curve/

  Apr 20, 2012
• 
  Medicina Integrativa · Medicina Holistica Integrativa

  In my opinion the light is the future of humanity More references: Controlling Quantum Tunneling With Light: Novel Particle Opens Door to Taming Mysteries of Tunneling http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/04/120405142156.htm New Way of Lasing: A 'Superradiant' Laser Science News and related stories p://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/04/120404133654.htm Quantum computation using impurities of a diamond; Research Read more: http://saypeople.com/2012/04/07/quantum-computation-using-impurities-of-a-diamond-research/#ixzz1sdLqCOd5 http://saypeople.com/2012/04/07/quantum-computation-using-impurities-of-a-diamond-research/#axzz1sdLY3aGM Real-time single-molecule imaging of quantum interference Thomas Juffmann, Adriana Milic, Michael Müllneritsch, Peter Asenbaum, Alexander Tsukernik, Jens Tüxen, Marcel Mayor, Ori Cheshnovsky, Markus Arndt Nature Nanotechnology Vol.: Published online DOI: 10.1038/nnano.2012.34

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  In my opinion the light is the future of humanity
  
  More references:
  
  Controlling Quantum Tunneling With Light: Novel Particle Opens Door to Taming Mysteries of Tunneling
  http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/04/120405142156.htm
  
  
  New Way of Lasing: A 'Superradiant' Laser Science News
  and related stories
  p://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/04/120404133654.htm
  
  
  Quantum computation using impurities of a diamond; Research
  Read more: http://saypeople.com/2012/04/07/quantum-computation-using-impurities-of-a-diamond-research/#ixzz1sdLqCOd5
  
  http://saypeople.com/2012/04/07/quantum-computation-using-impurities-of-a-diamond-research/#axzz1sdLY3aGM
  
  
  Real-time single-molecule imaging of quantum interference
  Thomas Juffmann, Adriana Milic, Michael Müllneritsch, Peter Asenbaum, Alexander Tsukernik, Jens Tüxen, Marcel Mayor, Ori Cheshnovsky, Markus Arndt
  Nature Nanotechnology
  Vol.: Published online
  DOI: 10.1038/nnano.2012.34

  Apr 21, 2012
• 
  Sergej Arsen'yev · Russian Academy of Sciences

  When diffraction occurs, waves (including light) bend around an obstacle. It was known earlier. All new is well forgotten old.

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  When diffraction occurs, waves (including light) bend around an obstacle. It was known earlier.
  All new is well forgotten old.

  Apr 21, 2012
• 
  Petrus Bacarea

  Instead of reply I ad a question: What is the "structure" (longitudinal and transverse) of a coherent laser beam?

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  Instead of reply I ad a question: What is the "structure" (longitudinal and transverse) of a coherent laser beam?

  Apr 21, 2012
• 
  Vasuki Shankar · Visvesvaraya Technological University

  I think u can make small objects invisible

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  I think u can make small objects invisible

  Apr 21, 2012
• 
  Tapio Ala-Nissila · Aalto University

  @Petrus. Coherent laser light is just an electromagnetic field with a single wavelength (ideally). Its polarization depends on the technical setup of the laser; see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser. @Sergey (Sergej?). You should properly appreciate the fact that diffraction is *not* involved here.

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  @Petrus. Coherent laser light is just an electromagnetic field with a single wavelength (ideally). Its polarization depends on the technical setup of the laser; see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser.
  
  @Sergey (Sergej?). You should properly appreciate the fact that diffraction is *not* involved here.

  Apr 21, 2012
• 
  James Colemam Alves · escola estadual joaquim de toledo camargo

  Microscopes and Telescopes more powerful. Certainly!!!

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  Microscopes and Telescopes more powerful. Certainly!!!

  Apr 22, 2012
• 
  Kenneth Ricci · Adelphi Technology Incorporated

  @Petrus-- actual lasers that you can use and measure, for example in an optics laboratory, obviously cannot have a "single wavelength" in the perfect sense. Consider for example the classic red Helium-Neon or "HeNe" laser, which was for two decades the most common "workhorse" laser for optics experiments (now replaced by diode lasers for most laboratory applications however): A well-designed HeNe that might have cost several hundred dollars in 1990 would usually operate "Continuous Wave" and produce a red (632 nm wavelength) beam that was about 1 or 2 mm in diameter at the point where the beam was emitted from the output optical coupler of the laser cavity. While the laser was "continuous wave" and therefore theoretically could have almost infinitely narrow spectrum (Fourier Transform property: the shorter the pulse, the broader the spectrum or the longer the wavetrain, the narrower the possible spectrum.) In practice however, even the more expensive HeNe lasers tended to jump around in phase every millisecond or so, because the optical cavity can support multiple nearby coherent modes of such a small wavelength, and the temperature of the laser is continually drifting as the lab temperature drifts. Mechanical vibrations (even sound) also can result in tiny changes in the HeNe laser optical cavity that result in mode-jumps or mode-hops. As a result of this "phase noise," the real spectrum of the HeNe laser would be finite and the spectral width would be measurable if you had an extremely expensive spectroscopy instrument with sufficient resolution. So, longitudinally, a typicaly CW (continuous wave) laser looks like a continuous sinusoidal function with occasional jumps in phase the laser goes through mode-hops. All lasers do this to some extent. A pulsed laser beam looks the same way except instead of a continuous sinusoidal function, the sinusoidal oscillation starts at low amplitude at the beginning of the pulse, then ramps up to a peak value, then ramps back down again. Ultra-short pulses (such as Q-switched mode-locked Titanium-sapphire femtosecond lasers that have been compressed by a diffractive element) tend to be almost Gaussian in time (ramping up to the peak and then back down again according to the "normal" or Gaussian distribution) for reasons that relate to the physical mechanism used to compress pulses to ultra-short duration. Transverse profile: a well-shaped laser beam with minimal diffraction should also be "Gaussian," in the sense that the electric/magnetic field amplitudes within the beam ramp up from near zero at the edges to a peak value in the middle of the beam and then ramp back down again toward the other edge. It can be shown (for example, see Siegman's textbook, "Lasers" http://www.amazon.com/Lasers-Anthony-E-Siegman/dp/0935702113) that a coherent light beam that has this Gaussian transverse profile as the minimal amount of self-diffraction as it propagates through vacuum (or in the case of air, near-vacuu...

  Cancel Save

  @Petrus-- actual lasers that you can use and measure, for example in an optics laboratory, obviously cannot have a "single wavelength" in the perfect sense. Consider for example the classic red Helium-Neon or "HeNe" laser, which was for two decades the most common "workhorse" laser for optics experiments (now replaced by diode lasers for most laboratory applications however):
  
  A well-designed HeNe that might have cost several hundred dollars in 1990 would usually operate "Continuous Wave" and produce a red (632 nm wavelength) beam that was about 1 or 2 mm in diameter at the point where the beam was emitted from the output optical coupler of the laser cavity. While the laser was "continuous wave" and therefore theoretically could have almost infinitely narrow spectrum (Fourier Transform property: the shorter the pulse, the broader the spectrum or the longer the wavetrain, the narrower the possible spectrum.) In practice however, even the more expensive HeNe lasers tended to jump around in phase every millisecond or so, because the optical cavity can support multiple nearby coherent modes of such a small wavelength, and the temperature of the laser is continually drifting as the lab temperature drifts. Mechanical vibrations (even sound) also can result in tiny changes in the HeNe laser optical cavity that result in mode-jumps or mode-hops. As a result of this "phase noise," the real spectrum of the HeNe laser would be finite and the spectral width would be measurable if you had an extremely expensive spectroscopy instrument with sufficient resolution.
  
  So, longitudinally, a typicaly CW (continuous wave) laser looks like a continuous sinusoidal function with occasional jumps in phase the laser goes through mode-hops. All lasers do this to some extent. A pulsed laser beam looks the same way except instead of a continuous sinusoidal function, the sinusoidal oscillation starts at low amplitude at the beginning of the pulse, then ramps up to a peak value, then ramps back down again. Ultra-short pulses (such as Q-switched mode-locked Titanium-sapphire femtosecond lasers that have been compressed by a diffractive element) tend to be almost Gaussian in time (ramping up to the peak and then back down again according to the "normal" or Gaussian distribution) for reasons that relate to the physical mechanism used to compress pulses to ultra-short duration.
  
  Transverse profile: a well-shaped laser beam with minimal diffraction should also be "Gaussian," in the sense that the electric/magnetic field amplitudes within the beam ramp up from near zero at the edges to a peak value in the middle of the beam and then ramp back down again toward the other edge. It can be shown (for example, see Siegman's textbook, "Lasers" http://www.amazon.com/Lasers-Anthony-E-Siegman/dp/0935702113) that a coherent light beam that has this Gaussian transverse profile as the minimal amount of self-diffraction as it propagates through vacuum (or in the case of air, near-vacuu... [more]

  @Petrus-- actual lasers that you can use and measure, for example in an optics laboratory, obviously cannot have a "single wavelength" in the perfect sense. Consider for example the classic red Helium-Neon or "HeNe" laser, which was for two decades the most common "workhorse" laser for optics experiments (now replaced by diode lasers for most laboratory applications however):
  
  A well-designed HeNe that might have cost several hundred dollars in 1990 would usually operate "Continuous Wave" and produce a red (632 nm wavelength) beam that was about 1 or 2 mm in diameter at the point where the beam was emitted from the output optical coupler of the laser cavity. While the laser was "continuous wave" and therefore theoretically could have almost infinitely narrow spectrum (Fourier Transform property: the shorter the pulse, the broader the spectrum or the longer the wavetrain, the narrower the possible spectrum.) In practice however, even the more expensive HeNe lasers tended to jump around in phase every millisecond or so, because the optical cavity can support multiple nearby coherent modes of such a small wavelength, and the temperature of the laser is continually drifting as the lab temperature drifts. Mechanical vibrations (even sound) also can result in tiny changes in the HeNe laser optical cavity that result in mode-jumps or mode-hops. As a result of this "phase noise," the real spectrum of the HeNe laser would be finite and the spectral width would be measurable if you had an extremely expensive spectroscopy instrument with sufficient resolution.
  
  So, longitudinally, a typicaly CW (continuous wave) laser looks like a continuous sinusoidal function with occasional jumps in phase the laser goes through mode-hops. All lasers do this to some extent. A pulsed laser beam looks the same way except instead of a continuous sinusoidal function, the sinusoidal oscillation starts at low amplitude at the beginning of the pulse, then ramps up to a peak value, then ramps back down again. Ultra-short pulses (such as Q-switched mode-locked Titanium-sapphire femtosecond lasers that have been compressed by a diffractive element) tend to be almost Gaussian in time (ramping up to the peak and then back down again according to the "normal" or Gaussian distribution) for reasons that relate to the physical mechanism used to compress pulses to ultra-short duration.
  
  Transverse profile: a well-shaped laser beam with minimal diffraction should also be "Gaussian," in the sense that the electric/magnetic field amplitudes within the beam ramp up from near zero at the edges to a peak value in the middle of the beam and then ramp back down again toward the other edge. It can be shown (for example, see Siegman's textbook, "Lasers" http://www.amazon.com/Lasers-Anthony-E-Siegman/dp/0935702113) that a coherent light beam that has this Gaussian transverse profile as the minimal amount of self-diffraction as it propagates through vacuum (or in the case of air, near-vacuum for practical purposes in the visible light range). However, not all lasers produce such happily Guassian beam profiles, particularly in the early prototype stages of development. In the years 2001-2003 I worked on some novel types of laser systems using Silicon Optical Amplifiers (SOA) and there were times when our experimental laser prototypes produced horribly ugly, non-Gaussian, not even round, laser beams that diffracted badly and were difficult to work with. The goal in most laser designs is to try to produce a laser with the Gaussian beam profile. However as the authors of this recent paper have shown, there are some very unusual cases where you would WANT a highly non-Guassian beam profile: where the very non-Gaussian beam profile would cause the beam to "bend without diffraction" due simply to the unusual wave mechanics of such a peculiar beam profile. I don't think the article goes on to explain how you would actually produce such a beam...?

  Apr 23, 2012
• 
  Prabhakar Prasad

  Spying tools; is it about metamaterials?

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  Spying tools;
  is it about metamaterials?

  Apr 30, 2012