It looks like laser light can simulate matter creation, according to the latest reports. Check out more interesting details about this below.
Laser light simulates matter creation
A team of researchers from Osaka University and UC, San Diego have conducted simulations to demonstrate that matter can be produced solely from light, which could be used in the future to test long-standing theories on the composition of the universe.
One of the most remarkable predictions of quantum physics is that matter can be generated purely from photons, which is achieved by astronomical objects called pulsars.
However, this has not yet been achieved in a laboratory. If scientists are able to produce matter in this way, it could help in further testing the theories of basic quantum physics and the fundamental composition of the universe.
In a recent study published in Physical Review Letters, the researchers simulated conditions that can enable photon-photon collisions solely using lasers.
Photon-photon collision is a proposed method by which matter may be generated in the universe and it is based on Einstein’s famous equation E=mc2.
Although it has not been observed directly, researchers have been able to indirectly produce matter from light.
They achieved this by accelerating metal ions (such as gold) to high speeds so that they collide with each other.
During the collision, each ion is surrounded by photons, and as they graze past each other, matter and antimatter are produced.
This simple and easy-to-implement setup is a promising candidate for experimental implementation in the near future.
Producing matter experimentally in modern laboratories using only laser light is a challenging task due to the need for extremely high-power lasers.
To achieve this feat in the laboratory, researchers aim to simulate the process and make an experimental breakthrough.
“Our simulations demonstrate that, when interacting with the intense electromagnetic fields of the laser, dense plasma can self-organize to form a photon–photon collider,” explains Dr. Sugimoto, lead author of the study.
“This collider contains a dense population of gamma rays, ten times denser than the density of electrons in the plasma and whose energy is a million times greater than the energy of the photons in the laser.”
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