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Repulsive Force Discovered In Light

Posted by kdawson on from the push-me-pull-you dept.

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."

10 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 superdana · · Score: 4, Funny

      I always assumed it was a movie. ;)

  2. Sounds familiar.... by OakDragon · · Score: 5, Funny

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

    Just like my ex-girlfriend!

    --
    Dark Reflection
  3. 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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  4. Re:This is why by gardyloo · · Score: 5, Funny

    Actually, it's your spelling.

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

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

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

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

  7. 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.