First Black Hole For Light Created On Earth 244
An anonymous reader writes "An electromagnetic 'black hole' that sucks in surrounding light has been built for the first time. The device, which works at microwave frequencies, may soon be extended to trap visible light, leading to an entirely new way of harvesting solar energy to generate electricity. A theoretical design for a table-top black hole to trap light was proposed in a paper published earlier this year by Evgenii Narimanov and Alexander Kildishev of Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. Their idea was to mimic the properties of a cosmological black hole, whose intense gravity bends the surrounding space-time, causing any nearby matter or radiation to follow the warped space-time and spiral inwards."
Gotta say ... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:uhhh... how much energy does it take? (Score:5, Funny)
That said, all that incident EM radiation is gonna really heat it up
Unless they're very clever with creating it, such that only wavelengths usable by the solar panel are refracted into the centre. Anyway, if they think they can do that by the end of 2009, can they make me a man-sized invisible hamsterball? Invisible zorbing would be an interesting experience.
Re:uhhh... how much energy does it take? (Score:4, Funny)
can they make me a man-sized invisible hamsterball? Invisible zorbing would be an interesting experience.
Actually it would be a black hamsterball.
And if that's the objective for 2009, it's quite easier to achieve by simply painting it black. Anyway, you'll just end up with a pretty pissed off hamster.
Re:First priority. (Score:1, Funny)
Re:First priority. (Score:4, Funny)
They could call it a brown hole?
Re:Shouldn't we give the Cui and Cheng more credit (Score:5, Funny)
Interesting culture you've got there. Where I work the theorists/computational groups find the experimentalists indispensible and vice versa. The experimentalists provide the grounding in reality and provide the final fruition of all the theory/computer work. The theory+computation guides the experiments and increases the odds that the experiments'll work the first time out. Everyone's better off, and everyone knows it, with the exception of just one guy who's generally hard to deal with anyway (even the other experimentalists don't get on with him.)
--PM
Re:It was nice to have known you guys (Score:3, Funny)
Don't worry, the universe itself will travel back and time and prevent it. Think about it... Mr. Universe... time travel. It's Arnold. He's the one stopping the LHC.
Re:First priority. (Score:5, Funny)
They need to stop calling it a black hole or the ignorant masses will decide it's going to end the world.
In the current uber-politically correct climate, they're more likely to lose their funding after being accused of racism.
Re:First priority. (Score:5, Funny)
Black Hole for Light (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Wow (Score:3, Funny)
Re:First priority. (Score:5, Funny)
Now is only the could work in Cold Fusion and Death Panels!
Now is only the could work in sentence structure!
Apologies if you made this post without the aid of caffeine... or if you're quoting verbatim from Palin's blog (which I kinda doubted at first since it uses the words "cold fusion" but that COULD be some obscure Alaskan sexual practise)
Don't bother RTFA... (Score:4, Funny)
There's nothing to see.
Ha! I crack myself up.
Re:First priority. (Score:4, Funny)
Call it cold fusion.
Say it harnesses zero-point energy.
Put porn in their research.
Re:First priority. (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Wow (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Hello darkness (Score:3, Funny)
Re:First priority. (Score:3, Funny)
The LHC was just waiting for the right time... ;-)
Re:Black Hole for Light (Score:1, Funny)
Re:First priority. (Score:2, Funny)
Just don't flick the switch from "suck" to "blow".
Cold fusion is a reality! (Score:5, Funny)
Now is only the could work in Cold Fusion and Death Panels!
Cold fusion is what happens when two ice cubes stick together.
Re:Actually it doesn't (Score:3, Funny)
Re:First priority. (Score:3, Funny)
Thought it was haiku
Too many syllables though
So I guess it's not
Re:Military Application? (Score:5, Funny)
Are we looking at the next generation of stealth technology?
If you're looking at it wouldn't it be the last generation stealth technology ?
Re:Wow (Score:3, Funny)
Well, if you'd just pull your head out of your ...
Oh. Never mind. Keep looking.
Re:Very obvious civilian application (Score:5, Funny)
Re:First priority. (Score:4, Funny)