Scientists Trap a Rainbow

An anonymous reader writes to tell us that Physicists from both the University of Surrey and Salford University have devised a method to trap a multi-colored rainbow of light inside a prism. "Previous attempts to slow and capture light have involved extremely low or cryogenic temperatures, have been extremely costly, and have only worked with one specific frequency of light at a time. The technique proposed by Professor Hess and Mr Kosmas Tsakmakidis involves the use of negative refractive index metamaterials along with the exploitation of the Goos Hänchen effect, which shows that when light hits an object or an interface between two media it does not immediately bounce back but seems to travel very slightly along that object, or in the case of metamaterials, travels very slightly backwards along the object."

Comments

In Rainbows

[Anonymous Coward]

Scientists Trap a Rainbow When PETOR (People for the Ethical Treatment of Rainbows) finds out about this, they are going to be pissed.

It shouldn't hurt to be a photon.

Re:In Rainbows

[g-san]

Everytime a Rainbow is captured a baby Leprechaun dies.

Did they get the pot of gold as well?

[Joe The Dragon]

Did they get the pot of gold as well?

Re:Did they get the pot of gold as well?

[CastrTroy]

I want to see pictures of the captured rainbow.

Re:Did they get the pot of gold as well?

[KingSkippus]

Quite the opposite. The people who make Skittles candy are suing for patent infringement.

Re:Did they get the pot of gold as well?

[Thanshin]

I want to see pictures of the captured rainbow. Pervert.

Re:Did they get the pot of gold as well?

[azav]

I heard they have had trouble separating the rainbow from the gold from the leprechauns, hence the low rainbow yield. On the positive side, there has been a bounty of yellow moons, purple horseshoes, blue diamonds and green clovers.

But they'll never get my Lucky Charms.

Re:Did they get the pot of gold as well?

[SnoopJeDi]

As cool as it'd look, from what I understand about slow light experiments, this wouldn't look like what you'd think.

Re:Did they get the pot of gold as well?

[DustyShadow]

Did they get the pot of gold as well? Yes, but they already spent it all on ponies.

Re:Did they get the pot of gold as well?

[Anonymous Coward]

The most difficult part of this was getting the prism back out of Richard Simmons's ass.

Re:Did they get the pot of gold as well?

[rholland356]

They are indeed one step closer to catching the Lucky Charms.

Re:Did they get the pot of gold as well?

[StarfishOne]

I don't believe that they've got it alive! A Rainbow Warrior is a create with a strong degree of honour! ^_^

Re:Did they get the pot of gold as well?

[StarfishOne]

*creature. Never work, eat and /. at the same time! ;o

*bows in shame*

Re:Did they get the pot of gold as well?

[Anonymous Coward]

I liked the first, Zero Wing-esque version better.

Re:Did they get the pot of gold as well?

[Hoi Polloi]

No, but they can't keep the damn unicorns out of the lab.

Re:Did they get the pot of gold as well?

[TheBeowulf]

OMG PON1ES!!!!!11!one!!!

*shudder*
*twitch*
... . .

Re:Did they get the pot of gold as well?

[mr100percent]

Send them to candy mountain.

it's not all fun and games...

[MrAndrews]

There's a protest against capturing rainbows going on today in NY... looks like it's a murky ethical question...

Re:it's not all fun and games...

[yintercept]

I am waiting for the Rainbow coalition to weigh in on this.

Rainbows are people too.

Re:it's not all fun and games...

[GrievousMistake]

But don't they get it? This could lead to one of the greatest discoveries in all of science.
What if we could find the fabled rainbow collection, predicted as early as 1979?
Well, fine. If the lovers and dreamers won't help, I'll just have to do it all by myself.

Re:it's not all fun and games...

[Dan Ost]

I think that should be "rainbow connection".

Re:it's not all fun and games...

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, thank you, it should. I'm just an illiterate oaf who couldn't handle a qwerty keyboard to save my life.

Does this mean

[zappepcs]

that if Apple brings back the old logo they will rule the Intarweb tubes?

Re:Does this mean

[Thanshin]

that if Apple brings back the old logo they will rule the Intarweb tubes? No. The tubes are already clogged with bees.

Re:Does this mean

[zappepcs]

I hope someone mods you funny for that

Re:Does this mean

[Phroggy]

uh, no, you didn't. Those weren't supposed to be literal parentheses, they were supposed to capture the [^c] so it could be included in the substitution. I think there's another way to do this without using $1, but I'm not sure what the syntax for that is.

Re:Does this mean

[khanta]

Did you say BEES?!?!?!

Re:Does this mean

[Smordnys s'regrepsA]

I love them tubes soo much, because I Heart bees!

...and Delta Goodrem

[butterwise]

can . Big deal.

Re:...and Delta Goodrem

[butterwise]

Crap. should have used the Preview Button. S'posed to be "can sing a rainbow. Big Deal." Oh, well.

SomeWHeeere...

[davidsyes]

...Over or UNDER the bridge?

(Captcha: cadaver)

What's next...

[Anonymous Coward]

scientists announcing they've replicated stars, and Comcast buys it for a "Wish On Demand" service?

Scientists Trap a Rainbow

[niceone]

Or they don't. They propose a method that might. The meta-materials needed to do this with visible light don't exist yet.

Re:Scientists Trap a Rainbow

[Dunbal]

Now they have to think of a way to get the light "out" again. Because after all, what's the point of storing charge in a capacitor's electric field, if you can't get your electrons back when you need them?

The other interesting thing is - if you don't let the light out, how much light can you put in there? Does it "fill up"? And if it does, what happens when it does? Does the universe end or something?

Re:Scientists Trap a Rainbow

[kebes]

First off, for those interested (and with subscriptions) let me provide a reference to the actual paper (from last week's Nature):
Kosmas L. Tsakmakidis, Allan D. Boardman & Ortwin Hess 'Trapped rainbow' storage of light in metamaterials Nature 450, 397-401 (15 November 2007) | doi: 10.1038/nature06285. (See also summary comment box, doi 10.1038/450330a.)

They propose a method that might. The meta-materials needed to do this with visible light don't exist yet. Your caution is quite correct. The paper is theoretical. An actual device has not yet been built. However this result is still significant because what they are showing is that the various results on "slow light" and "trapped light" can be realized in optical metamaterials. This is significant because metamaterials are in principle more amenable to technological deployment than the more exotic techniques of slowing light (ultra-cold condensates, etc.).

It's also worth noting that metamaterials at various wavelengths (e.g. microwave band and IR) have already been made. We are getting very close to optical metamaterials. For instance, see this review of the field:
Vladimir M. Shalaev Optical negative-index metamaterials Nature Photonics 1, 41 - 48 (2006) doi: 10.1038/nphoton.2006.49.

We already have prototype metamaterials at wavelengths of 780 nm, which is on the edge of the visible spectrum. Significantly, we already have metamaterials that operate in the IR band, which is what is used for modern fiber-optics, telecommunications, etc. The materials to date are not optimized, so it will of course be awhile before all these great applications of metamaterials are implemented in real telecom devices. But, still, we are getting quite close to these applications. In particular, I expect we'll see a commercial 'rainbow trapping' device for communications before we see a commercial 'invisibility cloak'!

Re:Scientists Trap a Rainbow

[kebes]

Now they have to think of a way to get the light "out" again. A specific device hasn't been built, but I imagine it would be optoelectronic: that is, they would design the material so that application of an electric field would turn off (or on) the metamaterial effect. If you could switch the capturing capability of the device with an electric current, then obviously you could integrate it into some sort of routing circuitry. In principle one could also design the material to have some unique non-linear optical properties, so that light alone was used to regulate its behavior (e.g. after enough light gets trapped it saturates and releases it), but this kind of "all optical routing/computing" is sorta the "holy grail" of telecom.

The other interesting thing is - if you don't let the light out, how much light can you put in there? In theory it would build up forever. In reality, any device will be imperfect and probably won't capture light "forever" (but a year or even a minute would be "effectively infinite" for most real-world applications). I imagine that if enough light got "trapped" inside, the resultant EM field in the material would get intense enough to alter the material properties. Eventually the material would break-down, stop being a meta-material, and release the captured light. As I alluded to before, if this were carefully designed it could have some interesting effects (e.g. a "light capacitor" that builds up a big pulse and then releases it all at once).

In any case, I wouldn't worry about the universe ending!

Re:Scientists Trap a Rainbow

[Dan Ost]

Because after all, what's the point of storing charge in a capacitor's electric field, if you can't get your electrons back when you need them?

It's a common misconception, but capacitors don't store electrons. They store energy. The number of electrons remains constant.

Re:Scientists Trap a Rainbow

[The -e**(i*pi)]

well, +/- a few, but not constant.

Re:Scientists Trap a Rainbow

[Anonymous Coward]

"...what happens when it does?"

So many times in science, the answer to that question is "KABOOOOOM!"

Re:Scientists Trap a Rainbow

[Smauler]

I absolutely _hate_ the term metamaterial. I know about its use and the reasons for its creation, but metamaterial is a stupid word, which does not mean what it says. Structure, for a long long time has been more important than composition. Carbon is a fun example. It is absolutely oxymoronic in my opinion to claim something above a material while using that material as an example...

Re:Scientists Trap a Rainbow

[Dunbal]

but I imagine it would be optoelectronic

      Yeah I thought it would have to be pretty much along those lines - but, but, wouldn't that slow everything down? I mean the whole POINT of using light is that it's faster, etc. But then you need an electronic system to do the switching for you, so it will only be as fast as your electronics and the speed at which you can switch the thing (the material itself).

      It would be neat if instead, light and interference patterns or some shit like that could be used instead. But hey what do I know, I'm just a biologist :)

Re:Scientists Trap a Rainbow

[blahplusplus]

"As I alluded to before, if this were carefully designed it could have some interesting effects (e.g. a "light capacitor" that builds up a big pulse and then releases it all at once)."

Indeed actually, now that I think of it, this sounds similar *pulsing* to how the brain functions.

Re:Scientists Trap a Rainbow

[DeepHurtn!]

No, Morgoth just comes along and steals 'em. But then we have to deal with a bunch of pissed of Noldor rampaging around, what with their secret kingdoms and bloody Oath. :(

Re:Scientists Trap a Rainbow

[Anonymous Coward]

As I alluded to before, if this were carefully designed it could have some interesting effects (e.g. a "light capacitor" that builds up a big pulse and then releases it all at once).

Thank you, sir! Now I have an idea for a mega-giga-watt ray gun...brb
(runs to the patent office).

Re:Scientists Trap a Rainbow

[ultranova]

Eventually the material would break-down, stop being a meta-material, and release the captured light. As I alluded to before, if this were carefully designed it could have some interesting effects (e.g. a "light capacitor" that builds up a big pulse and then releases it all at once).

That sounds like a bomb to me. A laser bomb...

poor rainbow

[TrappedByMyself]

The Phantom Zone isn't a nice place.

!pleh

[Anonymous Coward]

!rorrim ym ni kcuts m'I ,em pleh esaelp

Re:!pleh

[Dunbal]

Leonardo, is that you?

Re:!pleh

[Eli Gottlieb]

Sod off, Lilly Weatherwax.

Abu Ghraib for Photons?

[Jeremiah Cornelius]

Are they stacking these prisms into pyramids, like Abu Ghraib (and Dachau)?

Ponies and rainbows! Who will save the ponies and rainbows?

In a related news...

[denzacar]

Roads all across Ireland are blocked by thousands of Leprechauns protesting against capturing and inhumane treating of rainbows.

Re:Where to troll??

[Dunbal]

But there are a ton of virgin websites that would be just a sheer delight to troll.

If you want virgins, go to Iraq, strap a bomb to yourself and walk towards the nearest US patrol. You'll get 72, apparently.

With apologies to Sammy Davis Jr

[Anonymous Coward]

Who can take a rainbow?
Trap it in a prism?
Use a negative refractive index so it's slower than... uh, need a rhyme for prism... your jism?
The candyman. The candyman can.
The candyman can 'cause he mixes it with love and makes the world taste good.

Yeah, I think I'll post this one anonymously.

Light Labyrinth?

[Doc Ruby]

Has anyone worked on making devices or materials that channel light along a very long internal optical path folded up inside a small volume? Maybe some kind of photonic crystal that takes a laser input at a precisely calibrated angle, that reflects off nanoscopic features all throughout, or an optical medium with precisely aligned internal reflecting surfaces to cycle the light around, moving across the reflection surfaces gradually with each cycle through them, until the light reflects at an angle that escapes? Since photons interact only at the locus where they actually interfere and travels straight without confinement, the light doesn't need extra structure to segregate it. A long enough reflection path could emit light at its end only after a long time internally reflecting, which could offer enough time to move a properly positioned reflector "cap" over the entrance/exit. That device wouldn't slow light, but it would delay it, and then store it, entirely optically. Perhaps offering a purely photonic battery.

Am I making this up myself, or is it serendipity?

Re:Light Labyrinth?

[Anonymous Coward]

Put down the bong.

Re:Light Labyrinth?

[Dunbal]

I'm having visions of a circular piece of fiber optic sort of like a "Q" where light is put in at the little straight bit and then travels endlessly in circles...

Dude, pass the bong.

Re:Light Labyrinth?

[Doc Ruby]

And that, my friends, is how ideas refract at the boundary of stupid and clever, leaving the Anonymous Cowards in the dark, and the real people dancing in rainbows.

Re:Light Labyrinth?

[Doc Ruby]

I think a very long fiber, maybe thousands of Km long, with half mirrored ends (like a laser crystal rod has), could do this, but I'm thinking of using actual reflection, rather than total internal reflection at the critical angle.

Make a helluva lighter.

Re:Light Labyrinth?

[SSpade]

I think you just reinvented slow glass

Re:Light Labyrinth?

[kebes]

Has anyone worked on making devices or materials that channel light along a very long internal optical path folded up inside a small volume? It's a neat idea, and in real-world optics such tricks are sometimes used. For instance you can set up two mirrors, and have the beam bounce back-and-forth between them, in order to introduce a known delay into a particular beam path (you can increase the traveled path by a rather large amount). Another simple trick is just to launch a pulse into a big roll of fiber-optic.

The main problem with such techniques is losses. Even if your mirror is 99.9% reflective (and mirrors that good are expensive, by the way), you quickly lose all your signal intensity if you are reflecting thousands or millions of times. Your idea of using a photonic crystal is neat, but you would be hard-pressed to make a very long path length without making the crystal large, too. And if you cap the end with a mirror (to trap the light for longer), you run into losses from that.

That's one of the reasons the research mentioned in TFA is significant: in principle it allows a pulse to be trapped for an arbitrary amount of time with no losses (and for a broad range of wavelengths).

Re:Light Labyrinth?

[Doc Ruby]

Actually, I think I just slid the engineering fiction into the vacuum between Shaw's science fiction and romantic fiction. Not bad, at first glance.

Re:Light Labyrinth?

[Doc Ruby]

The inefficiency in reflections is light converting to heat when interacting with the medium. What exactly is that mechanism called? And is refraction, rather than reflection, ever 100% efficient?

Re:Light Labyrinth?

[kebes]

The inefficiency in reflections is light converting to heat when interacting with the medium. What exactly is that mechanism called? There are a variety of effects that lead to losses. There is simple absorption, where light is converted to heat. Any real material will have a non-zero absorbance. Also, to achieve high reflectivity you want a high refractive index contrast. Vacuum has a nice low refractive index, but of course there is no material with an infinite refractive index, so you will always get some transmission into the material. Unless the surface is truly perfect you will also get some amount of scattering that sends off light in other directions.

There are similar problems with refraction: the refractive index contrast is not infinite, so some amount of light is always transmitted. At glancing angles (below the critical angle), you theoretically get perfect 100% internal reflection. This is how fiber-optics work: by having a glancing-angle internal reflection, the losses at the boundary are quite low. However the beam is then propagating inside a material, and there is absorption from the material itself. (Even if the absorption was somehow zero, the refraction at the boundary would never be perfect: imperfections and evanescent waves would cause some amount of light to escape.)

So, while theoretically one could build a light-trap using reflection or refraction, using any known material would involve some imperfections or losses preventing long-term trapping.

Re:Light Labyrinth?

[Doc Ruby]

Something I find interesting about these mechanics is that it seems that even light with a wavelength that does not match any of the quantum levels of the atoms of a translucent material can somehow be absorbed by that material. Is that because the atoms have an infinite amount of quantum levels, stretching outwards from the nucleus, with at least one level available somewhere in its "stack" for any incoming wavelength light, or because every material has impurities which inevitably have some (relatively low) quantum levels which can absorb some light, or some other mechanism?

It seems to me that the quantum nature of these effects should offer lots of "no strings attached" ways to interact with 100% "elasticity" that human scale matter's statistical average behavior makes impossible. But there never seems to be a "free lunch", even if you pay in advance and get a refund, even if you just smell the sandwich untouched :).

Re:Light Labyrinth?

[kebes]

It seems to me that the quantum nature of these effects should offer lots of "no strings attached" ways to interact with 100% "elasticity" that human scale matter's statistical average behavior makes impossible. Actually it seems more like the opposite (unfortunately): quantum effects tend to ruin any hopes of a 100% anything. In a classical system, you can construct something that is trapped within a "potential energy well", but in quantum mechanics, tunneling means that there will always be a non-zero probability of the "thing" escaping from the trap by tunneling through the barrier (this is, for example, how radioactivity works: by nucleons tunneling out of the strong binding in the nucleus). You can make a trap good (low probability of escape) but never perfect (zero probability of escape).

it seems that even light with a wavelength that does not match any of the quantum levels of the atoms of a translucent material can somehow be absorbed by that material. You're right. But it's not that there is a quantum level that matches the wavelength of the light, but rather the Heisenberg indeterminacy principle basically allows for "blurring" of everything (the wavelength, the energy gap, etc.). So there is always a non-zero probability of interaction/absorption. Of course, the probability can be made very small. Impurities, as you note, tend to provide a wider range of possible absorption bands, so that the probability of one being close enough to the wavelength of the light is higher. (It's also worth remembering that absorption doesn't only occur because of energy levels associated with electrons bound to atoms: the degrees of freedom for molecular translation, rotation, and vibration also have quantum levels that can absorb light.)

But there never seems to be a "free lunch", even if you pay in advance and get a refund, even if you just smell the sandwich untouched :). Indeed! Every time we think we have science all figure out, it throws up another "no free lunch" roadblock! (e.g. thermodynamic rules against perpetual motion, entropy, quantum fuzziness, ...)

Re:Light Labyrinth?

[Doc Ruby]

OK, since I've found the first Slashdot thread in months that's more light than heat (pun intended :), maybe you can explain whether light moving through the curved space past a mass doesn't just "pull" the mass and light closer, but does it also change the energy in the light, which I would expect to be measurable as a lowered frequency?

And if so, is there a way to make nanoscopic light frequency shifters by moving masses closer/farther near light's path, perhaps shining in a vacuum channel? What if the light were in a glass fiber - would the attraction pull the light against the fiber wall? Would it reflect internally differently than if the mass weren't moved? What if the mass weren't matter, but more light - could that make a photonic "transistor" that either deflects or frequency-shifts light with solely photonic control?

Thanks for taking the time with this esoteric stuff, that I've mostly got wrong.

Re:Light Labyrinth?

[kebes]

explain whether light moving through the curved space past a mass doesn't just "pull" the mass and light closer, but does it also change the energy in the light, which I would expect to be measurable as a lowered frequency? Light is affected by gravitational fields (as explained by Einstein/relativity), so a beam of light is deflected by the presence of a massive object. Note, however, that light (photons really) have no mass hence they do not attract (or "pull") the mass in any way. A beam of light is deflected by a star or planet because spacetime itself is "curved", as you say. The photons don't really lose/gain any energy in the process, but their wavelength/frequency is indeed shifted by the gravitational field (energy is conserved because of the sum "frequency energy" and "gravitational potential energy"). So light falling in towards a planet is blue-shifted, and light escaping from massive stars is gravitationally red-shifted. The effect is usually quite small, but is measurable (even GPS has to make corrections for it).

is there a way to make nanoscopic light frequency shifters by moving masses closer/farther near light's path, perhaps shining in a vacuum channel? In theory, yes. By moving a mass you could shift the frequency, which would change how the light would interact with materials for instance. (Note that this shift wouldn't be "permanent"; that is the frequency shift that occurs to light as it passes near a mass is exactly "undone" when it passes away from the mass and leaves the gravitational field. So the shift only occurs while the light is nearby...)

However, it's important to keep in mind that the shift you would introduce by using a nano-sized chunk of mass would be very, very, very, very small. So small, that the light's frequency would be randomly shifted by other effects (e.g. nearby cars driving by) far more than the little mass could control. Even in an isolated environment, the frequency shift would be very small (things like thermal noise and Heisenberg uncertainty would be far larger). It's only really relevant on the scale of planets and stars.

What if the mass weren't matter, but more light - could that make a photonic "transistor" that either deflects or frequency-shifts light with solely photonic control? Light doesn't interact with itself. Photons have no mass hence they don't generate gravitational fields (and don't attract each other), and photons have no charge hence they can't affect each other through electric/magnetic effects. So there is no way for light to interact with light in a vacuum (except of course for light that is "coherent"; that is two beams that the same frequency and are phase-locked to each other will interfere).

However, light can interact with light in a material if the material exhibits certain "non-linear" properties (actually all materials exhibit these effects but some are more pronounced than others). This idea of a "photonic transistor" has actually long been sought in photonics: it would make for amazing all-optical computing. The idea is to interact two beams of light in a non-linear material, so that one beam can switch the other beam on and off. One simple example is a "photo-refractive": a material where the refractive index actually changes when light passes through it. The idea being that you could alter the path of one "data beam" by using a "trigger beam" (when the trigger passes through, the refractive index goes above some critical value which deflects the data beam from one exit port to another...).

Thanks for taking the time with this esoteric stuff My pleasure... it's always fun to get an actual scientifically-interesting conversation going on Slashdot!

Re:Light Labyrinth?

[CodeBuster]

Perhaps offering a purely photonic battery.

Which could then provide the necessary 1.21 jigawatts to the flux capacitor AND power the time circuits to boot...yeah it just might work.

Re:Light Labyrinth?

[Doc Ruby]

If you don't know what a photonic battery is, or why it's sought after, you're stuck in the 80s.

Thanks for demonstrating that Slashdot is News for Nerds, not necessarily geeks.

Re:Light Labyrinth?

[kmac06]

Some people are working on things like this. As another poster said, you can set up two mirrors, and have a beam of light bounce of them up to maybe a thousand times or so. With 99.99% reflectivity mirrors (which is close to as good as you can get, and can cost several thousand dollars) this gives you 90% overall transmission. If the distance between the mirrors is, say, 2 meters, than you have the light stored for 6 microseconds. Certainly not long on human time scales, but plenty long for computing time scales. Even DRAM needs to be refreshed every 50 ms or so. In fact I'm working on a project that involves doing just this :)

Though since you ask about crystals, I don't think that any current material can match that timescale. Light just travels too fast without slowing it down to stay in a small material like that for a long time.

Re:Light Labyrinth?

[kmac06]

Actually it seems more like the opposite (unfortunately): quantum effects tend to ruin any hopes of a 100% anything. In a classical system, you can construct something that is trapped within a "potential energy well", but in quantum mechanics, tunneling means that there will always be a non-zero probability of the "thing" escaping from the trap by tunneling through the barrier (this is, for example, how radioactivity works: by nucleons tunneling out of the strong binding in the nucleus). You can make a trap good (low probability of escape) but never perfect (zero probability of escape). I don't really agree with this, or rather I don't agree with what you seem to be implying. While the performance of everything is going to be limited by quantum uncertainties, in many real world applications (including high precision optics and nanotechnology), the effect can be several orders of magnitude less than we would ever notice. I see no reason why storing light with 99.999999% transmission for several years would be impossible due to quantum uncertainties.

But it's not that there is a quantum level that matches the wavelength of the light, but rather the Heisenberg indeterminacy principle basically allows for "blurring" of everything (the wavelength, the energy gap, etc.). So there is always a non-zero probability of interaction/absorption. Of course, the probability can be made very small. Impurities, as you note, tend to provide a wider range of possible absorption bands, so that the probability of one being close enough to the wavelength of the light is higher. (It's also worth remembering that absorption doesn't only occur because of energy levels associated with electrons bound to atoms: the degrees of freedom for molecular translation, rotation, and vibration also have quantum levels that can absorb light.) I'm pretty sure this is not the dominant effect causing absorption in, say, a fiber optic. Rather, the effect that causes lower transmission is Rayleigh scattering from the glass, which will be present even in an absolutely pure fiber. Without actually doing the calculations, I'm guessing the "non-zero probability of absorption" in a significantly mismatched energy level is going to be so absurdly small you would never see it. Rayleigh scattering can be mitigated by using hollow core fibers, though I think those bring their own set of problems.

Re:Light Labyrinth?

[vuo]

What you're describing reminds me of an optical version of a delay line memory. These usually stored data in waves propagating in media such as liquid mercury, and the speed of sound in the media set painfully low lower bounds for the seek times. In fact, I find it interesting that using electromagnetic radiation might revive the technology.

Re:Light Labyrinth?

[Doc Ruby]

Are any of those delays still available to play with? They all seem like they'd have really interesting noise and envelopes for using as delay effects on my electric guitar or electric (analogue pickup) piano. Imagine a solo that sounds like a rorschach of ENIAC's brain...

these guys are in for a world of trouble

[circletimessquare]

if they had just done a cursory literature search on the phenomenon, they would have realized that previous experiments on the phenomenon has produced disasterous results for the researchers, and jennifer aniston

Re:these guys are in for a world of trouble

[moderatorrater]

disasterous results for ... jennifer aniston That's right, '93 was the year that her career started its downward spiral.

Hänchen?

[RandoX]

Isn't Hänchen German for chicken? That would make him Goos Chicken.

Re:Hänchen?

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually, that would be 'small cock' ;-)

Re:Hänchen?

[Anonymous Coward]

That's H\"{u}hnchen.

The Source

[Anonymous Coward]

It would be nice if the "journalists" bothered to mention there's an article in Nature.

Optical Transistor

[planckscale]

Sounds neat because although the end goal is to process information at the speed of light, there are situations where light would need to be slowed down. Need to boot up your PC? Hit the light switch! Want to watch the OS compile? Use the dimmer switch!

opposite already exists

[192939495969798999]

There may be a prism on the dark side of the moon that produces rainbows... or so an ungodly amount of acid apparently led Pink Floyd to believe.

Re:opposite already exists

[RealGene]

There may be a prism on the dark side of the moon that produces rainbows... or so an ungodly amount of acid apparently led Pink Floyd to believe.
No, if you turn the album cover over, you'll see where the rainbow is mixed down to a coherent white ray, which travels to the front cover, where it diverges into a rainbow that travels to the back cover, where the rainbow is mixed down to a coherent white ray, which travels to the front cover, where it diverges into a rainbow that travels to the back cover, where the rainbow is mixed down to a coherent white ray, which travels to the front cover, where it diverges into a rainbow that travels to the back cover,where
******************
! stack overflow at 0xc030407b90 !
Album terminated with error 0x000C.
******************

Was over heard in the lab...

[techpawn]

This discovery is FABULOUS!

Good!

[apodyopsis]

Good! Trip over the power cable quick and we'll never be bothered by those annoying creations Bungle, Zippy, Aunty and Telltale ever again.

Though in hindsight that might of made more sense to the UK readers.....

Who can trap a rainbow?

[Anonymous Coward]

Who can trap a rainbow / in a crystal ball?
Dip it into chocolate / and then give it to us all?
The Candy Man / The Candy Man can.

Michael Jackson

[ciaran.mchale]

[W]hen light hits an object or an interface between two media it does not immediately bounce back but seems to travel very slightly along that object, or in the case of metamaterials, travels very slightly backwards along the object. In other words, when light hits an object it does a moon dance.

Re:HELP END MODERATOR ABUSE

[doti]

Sorry, but you *were* trolling.
Your linked post added nothing to the debate, it's only intent was to attack the parent poster.
Even if you were right, it's still trolling.

A rainbow?

[ArsenneLupin]

Gay!

Re:Where to troll??

[Anonymous Coward]

Plenty of places to troll on the intarbutts:
-Blogs
-Digg
-Slashdot
-Macslash
-Youtube
-Wikipedia
-Social Networking Sites
-Online Children's Games, such as Habbo Hotel
-Did I mention Digg?

Basically any forum or website with a dedicated community of idiots can be trolled. A personal favorite of mine is anime/videogame fansites, such as http://zeldauniverse.net/. It doesn't take a whole group of people to produce lulz, just one person is enough to make a difference.

Re:HELP END MODERATOR ABUSE

[Anonymous Coward]

Mmmm...not so sure. Based on the linked comment, I think it's fair to say that you were trolling the MSFT fanboys.

Peer Review?

[crmarvin42]

I skimmed the article and the conclusion I got was that for now this belongs with the earlier main page post about the top 10 snake oil products http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/19/1616248. Nothing has actually been done to prove that this procedure is actually possible. This is an example of the worst in modern science. Publish of research via press release. There has been no Peer Review, this isn't being linked to from a scientific journal, it's a theory with no evidence to support it being possible. For all I know it is a sound theory, but until I see some experimental evidence it's just smoke and mirrors.

LIght of Other Days

[Anonymous Coward]

I am surprised that no one has mentioned "Slow Glass" yet. One of the saddest SciFi stories ever.

Kermit will be happy.

[jellomizer]

Today we found it! The Rainbow Connection, for Lovers Deamers and You. La De da dee de da..

Like Hobbes said...

[skyriser2]

"If people could put rainbows in zoos, they'd do it."
- Hobbes, Calvin and Hobbes

Re:Like Hobbes said...

[Tyler Durden]

You took the words right out of my mouth. One of my favorite comics.

Re:Where to troll??

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, but they all look like you...

I got your Lucky Charms now,

[Anonymous Coward]

M*thaf*cka!

Future Funding

[Anonymous Coward]

Hess and Tsakmakidis went on to say that they would not have to worry about seeking funding in the future. They feel that they're very close to finding the elusive pot of gold.

I tried to capture a rainbow once

[I Like Pudding]

Then a unicorn came and kicked my ass. Fucking unicorns.

they are after me lucky charms

[limeman]

They are after me Lucky Charms.. What will lucky think?

Great soon we will be able to catch

[N3WBI3]

That illegal immigrant 'Lucky' and confiscate his 'charms'

Re:Great soon we will be able to catch

[limeman]

ya how many years has he illegally been trying to protect his marshmallow treats?

Tagging

[SailorSpork]

Props to the carebearstare tag, but why not Rainbow Brite? ....okay, i'm being silly.

Re:Tagging

[Anonymous Coward]

Because nobody's ever made a cool comic about Rainbow Brite.

Pshaw, trapping rainbows is easy

[sm62704]

There's this device that's been around for over a century. It's called a "camera". Since a rainbow is simply a band of color caused by refraction of light, capturing a record of that band of color on film (or digital media) is, in effect, captuting the rainbow itself.

Now if you could catch the leprechaun that would be a different story!

-mcgrew

Metamaterials?

[Thaelon]

Metamaterials? If they're not actual materials, then WTF are they?

Re:HELP END MODERATOR ABUSE

[Anonymous Coward]

So your threatening to troll if people don't mod you up to improve your karma, and at the same time saying that moderators unfairly modded you as troll? Not very convincing.

Re:HELP END MODERATOR ABUSE

[Anonymous Coward]

Uh, considering that a troll by definition knows he's trolling don't you think telling someone that is a bit silly?

Easy

[Anonymous Coward]

"The technique...involves the use of negative refractive index metamaterials along with the exploitation of the Goos Hänchen effect, which shows that when light hits an object or an interface between two media it does not immediately bounce back but seems to travel very slightly along that object, or in the case of metamaterials, travels very slightly backwards along the object."

Aw hell, I could've told you that.

Next Project

[pharwell]

Next on the agenda is to catch a falling star and put it in their pocket.

Finally:SlowLight from T-Zero game is a reality

[syrinje]

One of the best text adventure games I have ever played is T-Zero, and given this is /. I assume I am not alone.

Apart from being extremely literary (puzzle references to Prufrock's love song among other things), this game was incredibly complex in it's movement across past, future and present. And the slow light flashlight was the icing on the cake - it illuminated an object with light from the objects past, enabling the player to view what the object WAS - it would be scary and exciting if this was a step towards making the SlowLight real.

And you can shine it on aging body-parts to recapture past buff-ness :)

Did they manage

[maroberts]

to capture Oz too?

Douglas Adams

[Phroggy]

On top of the cliffs stood a reception committee.

It consisted in large part of the engineers and researchers who had built the Heart of Gold - mostly humanoid, but here and there were a few reptiloid atomineers, two or three green slyph-like maximegalacticans, an octopoid physucturalist or two and a Hooloovoo (a Hooloovoo is a super-intelligent shade of the color blue). All except the Hooloovoo were resplendent in their multi-colored ceremonial lab coats; the Hooloovoo had been temporarily refracted into a free standing prism for the occasion.

But they didn't actually do it!!!

[YetAnotherBob]

Read the article, it's a theory. They didn't actually build it. They just proposed it. to really do it, they need a real multispectrum transparent material with a negative index of refraction. (Same thing they need to build an invisibility chamber. Can you say "Unobtanium"?)

Experimental physics is littered with beautiful theories that never worked in practice.

Show us the trapped rainbow, please.

Re:But they didn't actually do it!!!

[Culture20]

Heh... I love the irony in your request; If they show you the trapped Rainbow, it's obviously not trapped.

Dio

[Anonymous Coward]

Ronnie James Dio has has this technology for years

World flooded because Scientists capture Rainbow

[Culture20]

Angels released the waters from above and from the deep when God's bow, which used to serve as a reminder that He wouldn't flood the Earth again, was captured by misguided scientists.

"We didn't think we were doing anything wrong; I mean, the rainbow looked neat. It's not like we had any arrows big enough to shoot from it."

"How were we to know we'd be the ones to make 'Waterworld' a reality?"

Thankfully, God quickly scolded the Angels in question and reset His bow in the heavens. The scientists were sternly warned not to capture His bow again, but were given clues into human cloning and the nature of dust and ribs.

Nice!

[garompeta]

I hope they catch a Unicorn next! So I can prove them all that I wasn't crazy, right Jenny? Jenny doesn't like electroshocks, right Jenny? Jenny... jenny

Like an episode of Brass Eye.

[jackpot777]

Looks like we're close to having the Light Saving Brick (watch the video).

Peter, you've lost the news!

And with that, I've lost our American audience...

Re:HELP END MODERATOR ABUSE

[Bryansix]

Wait so if the Mods don't mod you up you are going to Troll? Well I vote we ban your account and block your IP then.

Zardoz...

[Anonymous Coward]

Next we will have Sean Connery running around in a diaper trying to break the prism so he can kill immortals.

http://imdb.com/title/tt0070948/

Wish they would include a picture

[Eravnrekaree]

It would have been nice to see what the trapped rainbow looks like. It is too bad the article does not contain an actual picture of it. This seems quite common of many articles of some fascinating discovery, heavy on hype, but not providing much data or depictions of it actually in action.

Slow light

[markswims2]

How does slow light speed up the internet? wouldn't slow light take more time to cross tubes thus slowing the internet? or is my understanding of "slow" that whack?

Lucky is in Boston.

[antdude]

Lucky was last seen in Boston in TD Banknorth Garden Arena supporting the Celtics.

No, they don't want to look gay...again.

[Anonymous Coward]

Why do you think they got rid of the rainbow in the first place?

Re:No, they don't want to look gay...again.

[ArsenneLupin]

Why do you think they got rid of the rainbow in the first place? Then, why did they keep the apple?

The goose/Hähnchen effect?

[roguegramma]

I bet someone made this name up, sounds like straight out of Duck tales.

And for their next project

[dkleinsc]

Great: Now capture a Hooloovoo (a hyper-intelligent shade of the color blue).

Re:HELP END MODERATOR ABUSE

[Anonymous Coward]

modded troll cause i'm evil

poor Kyle

[brjndr]

We're only a couple proofs away from Kyle having to suck Cartman's balls.

Re:HELP END MODERATOR ABUSE

[Anonymous Coward]

You find trolling "fun"? I think I found your problem.

Troll with this account, and try to be civil with your new one. Who am I kidding? I'm sure you already have multiple accounts.

TRAP?

[BorgCopyeditor]

What does it mean that I read the title as "Scientists Crap a Rainbow ... in your mind!"?

Hawaii...

[zeban274]

Is Going To Be Pissed When They Find Out About This.

Re:HELP END MODERATOR ABUSE

[NewsWatcher]

The funniest thing I found about the post you linked to was the sig from the guy you were trolling.

"My Karma ran over your dogma."

Indeed in this case, it looks like it did.

Re:HELP END MODERATOR ABUSE

[Arapahoe Moe]

This is hilarious, Captain. ;)

For the life of me, I can't see why anyone would moderate you negatively. Bahaha.

Cheers.

A crystal that captures rainbows?

[DarthJohn]

will it cure cancer?

http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/19/1616248

Re:HELP END MODERATOR ABUSE

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, you busted me, ballsucker!

I can still troll you though. I just don't have to log in. That is, until I log in using a new ID.

superluminal!

[Iowan41]

This indicates that these metamaterials are able to produce superluminal effects! Red moving faster than blue!

Re:HELP END MODERATOR ABUSE

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh NOES, u-r gonna bloxx0r my IP!!!one! HWO SKARY!!!

Get over yourself. Who are you? Nobody, that's who. A nobody who got modded OT for posting here. Serves you right.

And I vote that you become a total loser! Oh wait...

Re:HELP END MODERATOR ABUSE

[Anonymous Coward]

No, the funniest thing about this whole affair is that YOU got modded OT. Serves you right, buckwheat.

Please don't tell me that you're amused by that trite bit of bumper sticker philosophy. I know they say that Americans are getting stupider by the day, but don't help that argument.

Re:HELP END MODERATOR ABUSE

[sm62704]

And his karma is probably in the toilet with all of them. Some people ar incapable of insight, interest, or even humor while flaming and trolling are easy for them. One should keep their trolling in meatspace where it belongs! Trolls should grow a pair, as internet troilling is so lame and cowardly. Sheesh!

-mcgrew

(can't decide whether to check "no karma bonus. OK, I'll check it...)

Re:HELP END MODERATOR ABUSE

[Arapahoe Moe]

Well, I'm working on a master plan to get my karma back down to where it deserves to be here. ;) Truly this was fun while it lasted, I do enjoy blowing off steam here as one can probably tell from my posting history. And it's true, my ability to "bring the noise" insult-wise was being taxed, so guilty as charged on the lack of imagination.

So sayonara and viva la taco, as it were. And .... well, that settles it! Everybody grab a broom, it's Shenanigans!