Stopping Light

Jon Abbott writes "NASA is reporting that physicists at Harvard University have managed to stop light altogether. The implications of this discovery are rather staggering -- quantum encryption and quantum computers might be just around the corner! " Well, I don't think this will mean any immediate changes - but it is a significant step.

Comments

Very, Very Slow Computers

[waldoj]

The implications of this discovery are rather staggering - quantum encryption and quantum computers might be just around the corner!

Yeah...very, very, very slow quantum computers.

;)

-Waldo Jaquith

Re:Very, Very Slow Computers

[redhatbox]

See, I thought so too... then I came across this staggering news article from the Associated Press:

Dateline: Slashdot

In a shocking new development, computer researchers commonly referred to as "hackers" have made a disheartening discovery. Apparent claims by quantum physics researchers related to stopping light have been disproven. John L. Haxor, lead researcher for the team that disproved the claim, explains:

You see, they didn't *actually* stop light. The software they were using to map the positions of discrete photons suffers from an "endless loop" condition. This causes the positional mapping of photon locations on their monitors to appear motionless.

When asked for potential causes for this error, Mr. Haxor could only say:

This situation clearly illustrates the danger of doing serious physics research while jacked up on Jolt colas and Marlboros. If we're gonna make any progress in this country, caffeine free diet Coke must be fully utilized by the research community.

The errorneous research team could not be reached for comment.

seems like...

[ultramk]

this story was stopped, held, and reemitted...

-m

whoa!

[TheCyko1]

wow... so they finally found the light switch... -Cyko

Great

[sharkey]

It was not destroyed or absorbed, but rather stored -- ready to emerge intact at the scientists' bidding.

I can just see physicists getting calling people into the lab, turning out the lights and commanding, "Let There Be LIGHT!!!" at every available opportunity

My Town has tons of theses.

[BiggestPOS]

They tend to call them "Red Lights" though. I wanna transporter, now.

Nothing new

[Anonymous Coward]

Stop light? This is nothing new. We have stop lights at every major intersection.

This really is vaporware!!!

[CProgrammer98]

From the article Walsworth and Hau used vapors (rubidium and sodium) to pause light. Will the insides of quantum computers be vaporous as well?
So it truly is vaporware!

Quantum Computing with Perl

[medcalf]

my @quanta;

@quanta=;

foreach $quanta (@quantum)
{
warn "DAMN! destroyed my data by reading it again!\n";
}

Sure.

[msm1th]

Slashdot is so silly sometimes it makes my head hurt.

Headline: Physicists Stop Light
Slashdot: The implications for quantum computing are staggering!

Headline: Transparent Aluminum Invented
Slashdot: The implications for case mods are staggering!

Headline: Secret of Time Travel Discovered
Slashdot: Yay! We don't have to wait 2 years to see the rest of [insert name of trilogy]!

Headline: Scientists Cure Cancer
Slashdot: The implications for quantum computing are staggering!

Headline: Terrorists Nuke South Dakota
Slashdot: The implications for quantum computing are staggering!

Re:OOOoooooo....

[Takeel]

You misspelled "porn."

Improbable

[mikosullivan]

From the article: And nothing is certain -- only probable or improbable.

Damn, it seems we're getting close to the Improbability Drive.

"That's a good name --- ground! I wonder if it will be friends with me?" Thud!

Great Way to Keep the Kids Quiet

[MonkeyInTree]

The Smith family (complete with mom, dad and 2 children) is taking a 4-hour trip to Grandma's... Kid 1: Mom, are we there yet? Mom: No (Repeat 15x) Kid 2: How long's it going to be? Dad: Ok kids, if you don't keep quiet back there I'll split you up into an uncountable number of atomic particles and stow you away in your Ronald McDonald sippy cup until we get there! Kid 1: ... Kid 2: ...

Terrorists Nuke South Dakota

[Rupert]

... not many Slashdotters killed.

[cf. Small Earthquake in Peru for the humor impaired moderators]

DMCA Violation?

[lynx_user_abroad]

"Suppose you have some information encoded in atoms," says Walsworth. "You could map that information onto light, send it over to some other group of atoms, and imprint the information there."

In other news, the RIAA filed suit today against God for failing to include Digital Rights Management technology with each atom, in violation of the SSSCA, and for providing an anti-circumvention mechanism within His "Laws of Physics" prodict.

"This will destroy the music industry as we know it!" exclaimed an unnamed music industry representative, "Evil Hackers will be able to use this technology to pirate music off of even protected CD's, because they're all made of atoms!"

God was contacted for comment on these developments, but apparently prefers only to listen, and not reply.