Science Fiction
Dictionary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
 |
Light-Trapping Nanodoughnut Like Slow Glass
Warwickshire physicists have stored exitons in a nanoscale Aharonov-Bohm ring using a combination of magnetic and electric fields. The exiton holds onto its photon, effectively freezing it in place.
Andrea Fischer and Rudolf A. Roemer believe that this accomplishment has significant implications for light-based computing. This is the first time that a photon has been "locked down" for later release.
SF fans remember Bob Shaw's classic 1968 story Light of Other Days, in which he describes a manufactured product with the capacity to trap light and then slowly let it out - slow glass.
Update 25-Mar-2012: SF great L. sprague de Camp presented a similar idea in his whimsical 1940 story The Exhalted; see the reference to slow glass rod.
End update.
I know you'll want to slowly release information trapped in these related stories:
Read more about this complex development in this artlessly casual article in The Register - Boffins build 'slow glass' light-trapping nanodoughnut or go straight to Exciton Storage in a Nanoscale Aharonov-Bohm Ring with Electric Field Tuning (pdf) in which the authors Andrea M. Fischer, Vivaldo L. Campo Jr., Mikhail E. Portno and Rudolf A. Romer "study analytically the optical properties of a simple model for an electron-hole pair on a ring subjected to perpendicular magnetic flux and in-plane electric field, show how to tune this excitonic system from optically active to optically dark as a function of these external fields and offer a simple mechanism for exciton storage and readout." Thanks to Winchell Chung for the tip on this story.
A new piece was always jet black because nothing had yet come through, but one could stand the glass beside, say, a woodland lake until the scene emerged, perhaps a year later. If the glass was then removed and installed in a dismal city flat, the flat would—for that year—appear to overlook the woodland lake.,,
(Read more about slow glass)
- Slow Light Will Speed Communications
- Light Captured In A Crystal
- Slow Light 'Scenedow' Close At Hand
- eBayaday Sells A View On eBay
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 3/10/2009)
Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |
Would
you like to contribute a story tip?
It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add
it here.
Comment/Join discussion ( 0 )
Related News Stories - (" Engineering ")
The Zapata Air Scooter Would Be Great In A Science Fiction Story
'Betty's slapdash style.'
Could Crystal Batteries Generate Power For Centuries?
'Power could be compressed thus into an inch-square cube of what looked like blue-white ice' - Edmond Hamilton, 1940.
Replace The Smartphone With A Connected Edge Node For AI Inference
'Buy a Little Dingbat... electropen, wrist watch, pocketphone, pocket radio, billfold ... all in one.' - Raymond F. Jones, 1945.
Sunday Robotics 'Memo' Bot Has Unique Training Glove
'He then started hand movements of definite pattern...' - Robert Heinlein, 1942
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
1980's 1990's
2000's 2010's
Current News
The Zapata Air Scooter Would Be Great In A Science Fiction Story
'Betty's slapdash style.'
Thermostabilized Wet Meat Product (NASA Prototype)
There are no orbiting Michelin stars. Yet.
Could Crystal Batteries Generate Power For Centuries?
'Power could be compressed thus into an inch-square cube of what looked like blue-white ice'
India Ponders Always-On Smartphone Location Tracking
'It is necessary... for your own protection.'
Amazon Will Send You Heinlein's Knockdown Cabin
'It's so light that you can set it up in five minutes by yourself...'
Is It Time To Forbid Human Driving?
'Heavy penalties... were to be applied to any one found driving manually-controlled machines.'
Replace The Smartphone With A Connected Edge Node For AI Inference
'Buy a Little Dingbat... electropen, wrist watch, pocketphone, pocket radio, billfold ... all in one.'
Artificial Skin For Robots Is Coming Right Along
'... an elastic, tinted material that had all the feel and appearance of human flesh and epidermis.'
Robot Guard Dog On Duty
I might also be thinking of K-9 from Doctor Who.
Wearable Artificial Fabric Muscles
'It is remarkable that the long leverages of their machines are in most cases actuated by a sort of sham musculature...'
BrainBridge Concept Transplant Of Human Head Proposed
'Briquet’s head seemed to think that to find and attach a new body to her head was as easy as to fit and sew a new dress.'
Google's Nano Banana Pro Presents Handwritten Math Solutions
'...copy was turned out in a charming and entirely feminine handwriting.'
Edible Meat-Like Fungus Like Barbara Hambly's Slunch?
'It was almost unheard of for slunch to spread that fast...'
Sunday Robotics 'Memo' Bot Has Unique Training Glove
'He then started hand movements of definite pattern...'
Woman Marries Computer, Vonnegut's Dream Comes True
'Men are made of protoplasm... Lasts forever.'
Natural Gait With Prosthetic Connected To Nervous System
'The leg was to function, in a way, as a servo-mechanism operated by Larry’s brain...'
