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Light Particles Illuminate The Vacuum, Reveal Properties Previously Unknown
The researchers conducted a mirror experiment to show that by changing the position of the mirror in a vacuum, virtual particles can be transformed into real photons that can be experimentally observed. In a vacuum, there is energy and noise, the existence of which follows the uncertainty principle in quantum mechanics.
’If we act fast enough, we can prevent the particles from recombining – they will then be transformed into real particles that can be detected’, says Dr. Sorin Paraoanu from the Aalto University School of Science.
Picture:Artist’s impression of the creation of entangled photon pair, a process which is seeded by the vacuum fluctuations.
Credit: Aalto University
The source of the pair is an actual microscope image of the chain of Superconducting Quantum Interference Devices of the metamaterial sample in which the dynamical Casimir effect was studied. The speed of light in this material could be varied by changing the magnetic field through the SQUID loops.
For the experiment, the researchers used an array of superconducting quantum-interference devices (SQUID). These parts resemble devices used in imaging small magnetic fields in the brain. By changing the magnetic field, the speed of light in the device can be changed. From the standpoint of the electromagnetic field of the vacuum, radiation reflecting from this kind of device experiences it as a moving mirror.
Picture: Optical microscope image of the chain of Superconducting Quantum Interference Devices of the metamaterial sample in which the dynamical Casimir effect was studied. The speed of light in this material could be varied by changing the magnetic field through the SQUID loops.
Credit: Aalto University
’By quickly varying the speed of light in the array, we can extract microwave photons out of the vacuum’s quantum noise’, explains doctoral student Pasi Lähteenmäki.
Future research directions for these kinds of devices include the creation of an artificial event horizon and observation or Hawking radiation emanating from it. The present observation will help cosmologists to get closer to the riddle of the birth of the universe and advance the development of extremely powerful quantum computers.
Picture: Picture of open dry dilution fridge by BlueFors Cryogenics, similar to one where the measurements were made. This one is capable of reaching temperatures below 7 mK (-273.143 C).
Credit: Aalto University
BlueFors Cryogenics is a company founded by former staff from O.V. Lounasmaa Laboratory and a supplier of low temperature research equipment.
Contacts and sources:
Pasi Lähteenmäki
Aalto University
A link to the news in the Nature journal:
http://www.nature.com/news/a-vacuum-can-yield-flashes-of-light-1.12430
Altering the speed of light is an exciting notion — but not to angels who travel at the speed of thought — meaning that they can travel anywhere in the universe instantly with no passage of time.