Researchers 'freeze' light for an entire minute
1 min read
In a breakthrough which could lead to faster and more efficient quantum and optical computers, researchers at the Technische Universität Darmstadt in Germany have managed to stop light for up to one minute inside a crystal and store digitally encoded information inside it.
To stop the light, the physicists used a glass-like crystal with a low concentration of ions, and two laser beams.
The first light beam, called the control beam, works by changing the optical properties of the crystal: the ions then change the speed of light to a high degree.
The second beam, which contains the information to be stored, works to slow down the laser light when it comes into contact with the crystal.
When the physicists switched off the control beam at the same time that the other beam was within the crystal, they found that the decelerated beam came to a stop.
More precisely, the light turned into a kind of wave trapped in the crystal lattice.
In this way, the researchers were able to store images, such as a striped pattern, within the crystal, using laser light alone.
The team is now looking at ways to store light for even longer (they suggest up to a week), and how to achieve higher bandwidth and data transfer rate for efficient information storage by stopped light.
