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Researchers Directly Observe Infinitely Long Wavelengths for the First Time

posted by cmn32480 on Tuesday October 10 2017, @12:41PM   Printer-friendly
from the not-surfable dept.

AndyTheAbsurd writes:

I know what you're thinking after you read that title: If the wavelength is infinitely long, isn't it a line rather than a wave?

In 2015, researchers, researchers at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) developed the first on-chip metamaterial with a refractive index of zero, meaning that the phase of light could be stretched infinitely long. The metamaterial represented a new method to manipulate light and was an important step forward for integrated photonic circuits, which use light rather than electrons to perform a wide variety of functions.

Now, SEAS researchers have pushed that technology further - developing a zero-index waveguide compatible with current silicon photonic technologies. In doing so, the team observed a physical phenomenon that is usually unobservable—a standing wave of light.

The research is published in ACS Photonics.

There's a lot more in the full story about the difficulties of proving the wavelength is infinite and what can be down with this new material with a refractive index of 0.

Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 5, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 10 2017, @02:18PM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 10 2017, @02:18PM (#579805)

    There's a difference between phase velocity, group velocity and signal velocity. Hint: It is the last one which is limited by c. It is the first one which gets infinite with infinite wavelength.

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  • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 10 2017, @03:36PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 10 2017, @03:36PM (#579851)

    And it is a gross failure of understanding between these that always gets people (which includes the occasional Ph.D.-types that really should know better) all hot and bothered about faster-than-light communication and such.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 12 2017, @11:20PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 12 2017, @11:20PM (#581425)

    wouldn't phase velocity go to 0 with infinite wavelength?

    please educate, so curious!