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Repulsive Force Discovered In Light

Aurispector writes in with news that the Yale team that recently discovered an attractive force between two light beams in waveguides has now found a corresponding repulsive force. "'This completes the picture,' [team lead Hong] Tang said. 'We've shown that this is indeed a bipolar light force with both an attractive and repulsive component.' The attractive and repulsive light forces Tang's team discovered are separate from the force created by light's radiation pressure, which pushes against an object as light shines on it. Instead, they push out or pull in sideways from the direction the light travels. Previously, the engineers used the attractive force they discovered to move components on the silicon chip in one direction, such as pulling on a nanoscale switch to open it, but were unable to push it in the opposite direction. Using both forces means they can now have complete control and can manipulate components in both directions. 'We've demonstrated that these are tunable forces we can engineer,' Tang said."

35 of 176 comments (clear)

  1. Psssssssshhhhhhh!!!!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    Sweet! Next up, how lightsabers don't work.

    1. Re:Psssssssshhhhhhh!!!!!! by erroneus · · Score: 4, Funny

      Because you can't "block" other lightsabers based on such technology. I recall seeing one lightsaber video where the humor of the video was based on that notion. They were successful in creating an effective lightsaber in that it had a definite end point and would cut through anything, but when they attempted to cross swords, they just passed through one another... and then one of the people cut through the other one with the lightsaber he had. You can probably find it on youtube or on theforce.net somewhere...

    2. Re:Psssssssshhhhhhh!!!!!! by Sensible+Clod · · Score: 4, Funny

      Oh, really? I thought lightsabers don't work because of the impossibility of handheld gigawatt nuke reactors to control the several tesla magnetic field to confine the plasma at one meter wirelessly.

      --

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    3. Re:Psssssssshhhhhhh!!!!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      I thought they were really just a MADE-UP THING which we DON'T KNOW HOW IT COULD WORK!

      Ah well, so much for reality vs. fantasy...

    4. Re:Psssssssshhhhhhh!!!!!! by LKM · · Score: 3, Funny

      Don't cross the swords! It would lead to all life as you know it stopping instantaneously and every molecule in your body exploding at the speed of light.

    5. Re:Psssssssshhhhhhh!!!!!! by icebike · · Score: 2, Funny

      Or perhaps they started to remove than and said, you know what, let's leave them in, and let the slashdot crowd try to explain the technology. Its not their job to fill in every detail of every imaginary technology.

      --
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    6. Re:Psssssssshhhhhhh!!!!!! by roger_pasky · · Score: 2, Funny

      Flash gun handles with white sticks in them... Yeah, right... and now you'll tell me tooth fairy does not exist.

      Thanks God we can still trust Santa Claus. Maybe next Christmas I'll ask for a real lightsaber with this technology.

    7. Re:Psssssssshhhhhhh!!!!!! by Zediker · · Score: 2, Funny

      Considering the powerful magnetic fields involved in order to contain the "plasma blade" and due to the way similar poles repel eachother, I dont see why plasma-based "light sabres" couldnt block one-another, since it would all be magnetic field interactions. The only downside is that this would likely cause the plasma-blade part of the device to fail somehow, unless there was some sort of stability mechanism to counter the other blades magnetic interference. Otherwise you'd end up with something like the Schwartz battle in Space Balls. This also doesnt go into the folly that your handle-section would be likely pulled right into your enemies blade-section from 20+ feet away...

      --
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    8. Re:Psssssssshhhhhhh!!!!!! by superdana · · Score: 4, Funny

      I always assumed it was a movie. ;)

    9. Re:Psssssssshhhhhhh!!!!!! by steelfood · · Score: 2, Funny

      Tell that to the 500,000 Jedi currently living in the former British colonies.

      --
      "If a nation expects to be ignorant and free in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be."
    10. Re:Psssssssshhhhhhh!!!!!! by davester666 · · Score: 2, Funny

      They just discovered this?

      Lots of people wake up in the morning after a night at the bar, and get repulsed when the light turns on.

      It's been happening for a very long time.

      --
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  2. This is why by masmullin · · Score: 2, Funny

    Ahhh finally a scientific explanation of why girls are repulsed by me! Its not my lude jokes... its light!

    1. Re:This is why by gardyloo · · Score: 5, Funny

      Actually, it's your spelling.

    2. Re:This is why by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      Maybe he really did mean lude, as in Quaalude.

      Going around assuming lewdness where none exists can get you into big trouble.

    3. Re:This is why by compro01 · · Score: 3, Funny

      Going around assuming lewdness where none exists can get you into big trouble.

      In the US, it gets you elected to congress.

      --
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  3. Sounds familiar.... by OakDragon · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...a bipolar light force with both an attractive and repulsive component...

    Just like my ex-girlfriend!

    1. Re:Sounds familiar.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      ...a bipolar light force with both an attractive and repulsive component...

      Just like my ex-girlfriend!

      Yeah mine ex-girlfriend too! Fucked in the head but really hot!

      You're doing it wrong.

  4. Now all we need by spacefiddle · · Score: 2, Funny

    is for an alcoholic millionaire to cram it into a suit of armor!

  5. Finally... by mldi · · Score: 3, Funny

    ... an explanation as to why so many WoW geeks shriek when they leave their parents'.... errrmmm.... their basements during the day.

    --
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  6. Yup. Been there, done that. by sootman · · Score: 5, Funny

    "Repulsive Force Discovered In Light"--well DUH. Anyone who's ever been in a strip club at closing time has witnessed this phenomenon.

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  7. Deflector and tractor fields? by KDN · · Score: 1, Funny

    Light has an attractive and repulsive component. Sounds like Star Trek deflector and tractor beams to me. Who knows what they will be able to do with this in a hundred years or so.

    1. Re:Deflector and tractor fields? by Laxori666 · · Score: 4, Funny

      Anything, as long as you divert enough power to the deflector dish.

  8. New lightbulb from GE! by InsertWittyNameHere · · Score: 5, Funny

    Now emits 100% attractive light. That's twice as much as the next leading brand!

  9. Re:Force source? by Dunbal · · Score: 3, Funny

    What the crap is an article about a newly found force that doesn't explain at least a theory as to the source of the force? Is it magnetic?

          Don't worry. I'm sure some physicist somewhere will soon invent a particle to explain it.

    --
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  10. I work IT. by eosp · · Score: 3, Funny

    I already knew that light repelled me.

  11. Cockroaches... by carpefishus · · Score: 3, Funny

    This was previously demonstrated by cockroaches.

    --
    Facts take all of the premium out of arm waving - T. Reynolds
  12. and by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Billions of moths scream out in horror.

    1. Re:and by slider2800 · · Score: 2, Funny

      *kzzzt* ...and are suddenly silenced.

      --
      return $sig;
  13. Re:Psssssssshhhhhhh!!!!!! Jusssst GREAT... by davidsyes · · Score: 3, Funny

    Now, data (or Data) can join the dark side, and display a tension-deficit disorder

    --
    Previously: "Linux... Toward the Sunrise..." Now: "Linux... Toward the-- No, now, part of Every Sunrise"
  14. Re:Nice. But. by Hadlock · · Score: 2, Funny

    Everyone knows carriage returns were supplanted by carrier returns with the advent of aircraft carriers. They're looking at revising the term as Shuttle Return when the Space Shuttle Program is finally Shuttered.

    --
    moox. for a new generation.
  15. Re:Angular momentum by Angstroem · · Score: 4, Funny

    I had always wondered how to resolve conservation of light's angular momentum during destructive interference of collinear laser pulses consisting of ph[o]tons of the same "handedness."

    Bingo, Sir.

  16. Re:Maybe with metamaterials. by L4t3r4lu5 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Dude... Who are you?

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  17. Re:Angular momentum by Digital+Vomit · · Score: 2, Funny

    I had always wondered how to resolve conservation of light's angular momentum during destructive interference of collinear laser pulses consisting of phtons of the same "handedness."

    Ummm...yeah...me, too...

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  18. How Repulsive. by ryanvm · · Score: 2, Funny

    Ugh. That is so digusting.

  19. Re:Force source? by aurispector · · Score: 2, Funny

    After reading most of the posts, I began hoping that I had submitted an article to which NOBODY would make a serious comment. You went and ruined it, you bastard.

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