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posted by janrinok on Tuesday January 16 2018, @02:47AM   Printer-friendly
from the lots-of-suck dept.

Physicists Say They've Created a Device That Generates 'Negative Mass'

Physicists have created what they say is the first device that's capable of generating particles that behave as if they have negative mass. The device generates a strange particle that's half-light/half-matter, and as if that isn't cool enough, it could also be the foundation for a new kind of laser that could operate on far less energy than current technologies.

This builds on recent theoretical work on the behaviour of something called a polariton, which appears to behave as if it has negative mass – a mind-blowing property that sees objects move towards the force pushing it, instead of being pushed away.

Now physicists from the University of Rochester have created a device that allows them to actually create these polaritons at room temperature. They do this by manipulating captured photons and combine them with a kind of quasi-particle called an exciton to make something half-light/half-matter that some scientists affectionately refer to as 'magic dust'.

This alone is "interesting and exciting from a physics perspective," says quantum physicist Nick Vamivakas from Rochester's Institute of Optics. "But it also turns out the device we've created presents a way to generate laser light with an incrementally small amount of power."

Anomalous dispersion of microcavity trion-polaritons (open, DOI: 10.1038/nphys4303) (DX)

Previously: Physicists Create 'Negative Mass'


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  • (Score: 5, Informative) by takyon on Tuesday January 16 2018, @02:59AM (4 children)

    by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Tuesday January 16 2018, @02:59AM (#622962) Journal

    It also sounds a whole lot like what the Alcubierre drive [wikipedia.org] needs to work, but I wouldn't get your hopes up just yet.

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  • (Score: 4, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 16 2018, @04:39AM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 16 2018, @04:39AM (#622989)

    Now all we need is a bipolar drunk to go off his meds, build a warp drive for real, and panic when he realizes his work will make him more famous than he wants to be.

    • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 16 2018, @01:59PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 16 2018, @01:59PM (#623125)

      Hopefully he'll have a shotgun ready. A warp signature is going to light up so many long-range probes, and alien invaders are certain to follow the craft back to Earth. Hopefully he realizes this, shoots them on the gang plank, and takes their ship so we can understand what kind of technology those green-blooded hobgoblins are planning to use to enslave us.

      It could be the dawn of a glorious new empire!

  • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 16 2018, @07:44AM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 16 2018, @07:44AM (#623034)

    these things have negative mass just as much as air bubbles in water have negative mass.
    so you may as well use air bubbles for your alcubierre drive.