Scientists Trap Light In Nano-Soup

An anonymous reader writes "Physicists at the Bhavnagar University in Gujarat, India have trapped light in a nano-soup concoction. The chance discovery could pave the way for lab-on-a-chip devices for processing optical information. As of now there is no theoretical explanation for why the fluid has the effects it does on laser light."

Better than flashlights or the Light of Elendil?

[Jumphard]

Apologize for the rotten LOTR reference, but apart from applications to electronic this could make a really could mass light storage device. "Take this crystal with you into the (forest, cave, night, basement) and flip the switch and it will turn from darkness to light!" Sounds hocus-pocus, but cool nonetheless! Then you just charge it by leaving it in light (artificial or sunlight) and you've got another use out of it.

No definitive explanation..

[explosivejared]

A rigorous theoretical explanation is yet to come, but the researchers believe that the spheres are aligned by the magnetic field and form microcavities - filled by the ferrofluid - in which the photons get trapped, resonating back and forth

I know they haven't published an explanation on this yet, but does anyone know what kind of power this sort of process takes? Power consumption would obviously be germane to computing using photons, which the article discusses. Also, what effect does the stasis have on the photon?

Re:Better than flashlights or the Light of Elendil

[Daniel_Staal]

Probably not: you need to keep a magnetic field of an exact strength around it to hold the light. So you still need batteries or some such to maintain the field. (You'd want an atrificial field so you can choose the wavelengths of light to capture, and because it is easier to remove uniformly.)

There is probably also a maximum amount of energy you can store per unit volume, though I'd guess they don't have that worked out yet.

Re:Better than flashlights or the Light of Elendil

[ruiner13]

The unusual fluid, they say, works at room temperature, holds photons for far longer than other systems, and can also be tuned with a magnet to store any wavelength of visible light

That is interesting. I wonder if they could extend it to trap other EM frequencies. It would make an interesting cloaking technology in my mind. Can absorb and possibly redirect radar, light, microwaves. It would seem to make decent shielding from x-rays in medical labs, who knows. I wish it said how much energy the magnetic fields took to sustain, and how many photons they can capture per area. If this turns out to be legit...