|
Induced
transparency: The precise control of the energy flow (indicated by
glowing particles in the fog) makes the artificial material become
entirely transparent for the optical signal. Credit: Andrea Steinfurth /
University of Rostock |
Sissy Gudat at Phys.org reports:
Space, the final frontier. The starship Enterprise pursues its
mission to explore the galaxy, when all communication channels are
suddenly cut off by an impenetrable nebula. In many episodes of the
iconic TV series, the valiant crew must "tech the tech" and "science the
science" within just 45 minutes of airtime in order to facilitate their
escape from this or a similar predicament before the end credits roll.
Despite spending a significantly longer time in their laboratories, a
team of scientists from the University of Rostock has succeeded in
developing an entirely new approach for the design of artificial
materials that can transmit light signals without any distortions by
means of precisely tuned flows of energy. They have published their
results in Science Advances.
"When
light spreads in an inhomogeneous medium, it undergoes scattering. This
effect quickly transforms a compact, directed beam into a diffuse glow,
and is familiar to all of us from summer clouds and autumn fog alike,"
Professor Alexander Szameit of the Institute for Physics at the
University of Rostock describes the starting point of his team's
considerations. Notably, it is the microscopic density distribution of a
material that dictates the specifics of scattering.
Szameit continues,
"The fundamental idea of induced transparency is to take advantage of a
much lesser-known optical property to clear a path for the beam, so to
speak."
Read the entire article.
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