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Building New Materials With Light

Posted by Soulskill on from the when-all-you-have-is-a-lighthammer,-everything-looks-like-a-lightnail dept.

ckwu writes "Since the 1970s, physicists have used laser beams to trap and study small objects, from cells down to individual atoms. Now, electrical engineers at the University of Southern California have developed a simple optical system that assembles hundreds of nanoparticles into two-dimensional structures using a single laser beam and a silicon photonic crystal. This compact optical trap fits on a small chip and could eventually help researchers make materials for new types of sensors, optical devices, and chemical filters."

27 comments

  1. Frost. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

    It's everywhere.

    1. Re:Frost. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

      Did you know that a few years ago, 21 US states recorded record LOW temperatures? Now isn't it odd this wasn't widely reported in the media, I mean you would think record low temps would be newsworthy. They certainly do report record high temps.

      But oh .. oh yeah. Low temps don't fit the Global Warming agenda. You didn't really think the news media was objective, did you? The five (FIVE) corporations that control all major news media (TV, newspapers, magazines, radio) are amazingly homogeneous in their views, sorta like the way the few wireless carriers in the US are amazingly homogeneous in their service levels and pricing (they ALL overcharge for texting for example).

      You know if there truly is such a thing as anthropogenic global warming, nothing has destroyed its credibility among intelligent thinking people more than all the selective reporting, political games, and obvious biases on the part of its advocates. One would think that those with the facts on their side have no need to resort to such propaganda-style tactics.

    2. Re:Frost. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

      Oh yeah, and you know how you keep hearing about the glaciers melting in the Arctic region and poor poor polar bears having no solid ground? That's a nice emotional pity-appeal that any advertiser could appreciate. It is a classic propaganda technique. It's the same reason they use (exploit) babies and small children in commercials, not to reason with you but to tug at your heart-strings. There is no other reason to do it.

      What you haven't heard is Alaska's biggest (huge) glacier continues to grow at a rate of SEVEN FEET PER DAY. But again, that doesn't fit the agenda so it doesn't get reported. It is known only to those who do their own homework. Don't rely on the media to filter your information for you, kids.

      This kind of selective reporting and confirmation bias is why skeptics are skeptical about global warming. The advocates of it hurt their own cause more than anyone else ever could.

    3. Re:Frost. by Em+Adespoton · · Score: 3, Insightful

      This is just getting painful....
      http://www.davidicke.com/articles/planetary-change-mainmenu-66/23903-alaskas-hubbard-glacier-advancing-seven-feet-a-day

      For those with ESL, advancing means to move forward. Grow means to get bigger. BACK IN 2009, the glacier started to melt fast enough that it started advancing on a cushion of meltwater toward Gilbert Point.

      Along with issues like this, the global seawater high tide line is rising annually at a measurable level, and there will soon be a permanent route through the arctic ocean. This is all beside what's happening in Greenland, where the ice cap has melted enough that the island is actually rising out of the ocean (due to less mass pushing it down into the water).

      None of this is breaking news; the information has been around for years. The spinning is somewhat new however, and goes both directions.

      So please; stop the spin and get back to taking the frosty on other topics. This one's so old that even BSD declares it's dead.

    4. Re:Frost. by mqhiller · · Score: -1, Offtopic

      Asshole.

    5. Re:Frost. by AK+Marc · · Score: 0

      Did you know that a few years ago, 21 US states recorded record LOW temperatures? Now isn't it odd this wasn't widely reported in the media, I mean you would think record low temps would be newsworthy. They certainly do report record high temps.

      A temporary record low is weather, not climate. Or are you saying they had years of lowest average temperatures?

      You didn't really think the news media was objective, did you? The five (FIVE) corporations that control all major news media (TV, newspapers, magazines, radio) are amazingly homogeneous in their views, sorta like the way the few wireless carriers in the US are amazingly homogeneous in their service levels and pricing (they ALL overcharge for texting for example).

      And they are all conservative.

      --
      Learn to love Alaska
    6. Re:Frost. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      This is simply poor moderation. Yes, he's wrong. But he's not wrong about everything. He's absolutely right about the framing done by the media. It's done on every issue and something everyone should keep in mind when choosing sources and deciding what to believe.

      But even if he was completely wrong, it is better to let the ideas he's sharing come to light. Someone else searching for "Alaska glacier growing" could be lead here as a result. They'd read his post, then the one under it, and hopefully come away more knowledegable.

      Now that won't happen because you're voting on the position instead of actually moderating. We're all stupider and worse off because you think "-1" means "I disagree."

      Now, an argument could be made that the parent was offtopic. But that's not how it was moderated. And I'll bet dollars to donuts the same mod who downmodded the parent upmodded the sibling.

      tl;dr: Good job, mod. You're part of the problem.

  2. AR-15 Lower Receiver by stevegee58 · · Score: 1

    Oh Boy! When can I buy one and make an AR-15?

    1. Re:AR-15 Lower Receiver by sethradio · · Score: 1

      Never! We can't let you make weapons out of nothing -- we need to keep our kids safe!

      --
      "Nationalism is an infantile sickness. It is the measles of the human race." -Albert Einstein
  3. 666 The End is Here by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I can't be the only one here that sees this as a potential tool that can be used by the United States Government to REWRITE THE DNA of their citizens!

    Perhaps they will use the fascist idea of a national ID system to install these genetic destroyers inside people. Hell, they've already tricked people into getting driver's licenses, green cards, social security cards, and the most nefarious thing of all, they've gotten rid of the gold standard.

    Where are all these new technologies coming from? 300 years ago, none of this crap existed. Humans have been around for 5,700 years. How is it that for the last 5,400 years, no technological progress was being made?

    I'll tell you why!

    It's because everyone was doing what they were supposed to be doing, and they rejected the fruit from the tree of knowledge. They knew that if they ate from it, God would kick them out of the Garden of Eden (Heaven), and they would never be allowed to return. The only book that people need to know how to read the Bible. Everything else is Satan's work, and should be burned.

    Also, anyone that worships any other god (or reveres any other entity as though they were gods or goddesses, to include Jesus Christ and the "Virgin" Mary; Exodus 20:4 "You shall not make for yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is on the earth beneath or that is in the water below.") except God deserves to be killed. God hates people who reject his Holy Word. May God grant peace and honor the Prophet Moses and his family.

    1. Re:666 The End is Here by kermidge · · Score: 1

      For a minute I was wondering if there was anyones' ox you left un-Gored.

  4. Playing the game... by Bobfrankly1 · · Score: 2

    Of course the first thing to be made out of light would be bridges...

    1. Re:Playing the game... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How was that new ironman movie?

    2. Re:Playing the game... by Ginger+Unicorn · · Score: 1

      As in Jeff Bridges in TRON? That's what this laser beam thing reminds me of. (but you probably mean the bifrost from Thor)

      --
      (1.21 gigawatts) / (88 miles per hour) = 30 757 874 newtons
    3. Re:Playing the game... by Bobfrankly1 · · Score: 1

      As in Jeff Bridges in TRON? That's what this laser beam thing reminds me of. (but you probably mean the bifrost from Thor)

      Note the subject. Light bridges are a common occurrence in many sci-fi/futuristic games.

    4. Re:Playing the game... by markana · · Score: 1

      Especially Halo - hard-light stuff everywhere

      (including bridges)

  5. Oh geez by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    One dimension away from being a 3D printing story. What's happening Slashdot?

    1. Re:Oh geez by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      One dimension away from being a 3D printing story. What's happening Slashdot?

      This is the year of 2D printing.

  6. Strength of materials analysis by mbstone · · Score: 4, Funny

    Structures made of light are less sturdy than those made of straw, or bricks, nevertheless they are immune to being blown down with mere huffing and puffing.

  7. So, it's a lightsaber ? Or a force field ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Aim laser up, push button, release microscopic material, laser arranges a big stick, material heats up and reflects light \ Incandescences, PROFIT ???
    Or at least give us star trek jail bars \ force fields ! Just combining this with a powerful enough magnetic field could solve the space junk issues since the material could be reconstructed instantly after absorbing impacts.

    Really cool stuff guy !

  8. REPLICATOR from STAR TREK? by sanman2 · · Score: 1

    Could this device be the beginnings of eventual Star Trek style replicator technology?

  9. 4th Pig's House of [Laser] Light would work! by girlinatrainingbra · · Score: 1

    You left out houses made of "sticks" [there were three little pigs], but otherwise, your analysis is spot-on! But even if they're immune from being blown down, I don't think they'd do a good job of stopping the wolf from getting in.
    .
    Wait, I retract that. If the light is of a high enough intensity, it'd be life a force-field with enough power to burn or vaporize or plasma-ize anything that tries to come in contact with it. Yes, this mysterious 4th pigs "House of Light" would be impervious to the wolf!

    1. Re:4th Pig's House of [Laser] Light would work! by TemporalBeing · · Score: 1

      You left out houses made of "sticks" [there were three little pigs], but otherwise, your analysis is spot-on! But even if they're immune from being blown down, I don't think they'd do a good job of stopping the wolf from getting in. . Wait, I retract that. If the light is of a high enough intensity, it'd be life a force-field with enough power to burn or vaporize or plasma-ize anything that tries to come in contact with it. Yes, this mysterious 4th pigs "House of Light" would be impervious to the wolf!

      What you don't know is that aliens are all around us and that stars are really just what you described the mysterious fourth pigs house as being...just with aliens inside.

      --
      Truth is like the sun. You can shut it out for a time, but it ain't goin' away. - Elvis Presley (source: imdb.com)
  10. Nanolathing by KingKaneOfNod · · Score: 1

    Anyone else reminded of Total Annihilation when they read this?

    1. Re:Nanolathing by maugle · · Score: 1

      I knew I couldn't be the only one!

  11. Lieutenant... by houbou · · Score: 1

    On my orders: Engage Tractor Beam NOW! :)

  12. The Dig by Cutriss · · Score: 1

    Boston: If they can make bridges out of light, you have to wonder if they can make anything else.
    Maggie: You mean...Light beer?
    Boston: I was thinking more of a light house.

    --
    "Mod, mod, mod...and another troll bites the dust."