Exciting. Could we build a laser-pulsed Charge Wave computer?
Ultrafast laser pulses produce a previously unseen phase of matter
11–20 of 36 posts
Re: Ultrafast laser pulses produce a previously unseen phase of matter
#12> "What if all you need to do is shine light on a material, and this new state comes into being?" Wonder if it's related to photosynthesis?
It's not. Photosynthesis is a chemical reaction where light provides energy and that only involves gas, liquid and solid states of matter.
These guys are talking about entirely different states of matter.
Re: Ultrafast laser pulses produce a previously unseen phase of matter
#13Holy shit, Pablo is on fire!
Re: Ultrafast laser pulses produce a previously unseen phase of matter
#14> The idea that two possible states of matter might be in competition and that the dominant mode is suppressing one or more alternative modes is fairly common in quantum materials, the researchers say. This suggests that there may be latent states lurking unseen in many kinds of matter that could be unveiled if a way can be found to suppress the dominant state. How exciting! I can only daydream about the kind of disc…
I don't understand it enough to get excited - what are the potential applications?
Re: Ultrafast laser pulses produce a previously unseen phase of matter
#15> "What if all you need to do is shine light on a material, and this new state comes into being?" Wonder if it's related to photosynthesis?
It's not. Photosynthesis is a chemical reaction where light provides energy and that only involves gas, liquid and solid states of matter. These guys are talking about entirely different states of matter.
I seem to remember there were some mysteries around how photosynthesis works. Although looking at wikipedia it seems quite comprehensively mapped out now
Re: Ultrafast laser pulses produce a previously unseen phase of matter
#16New phases of matter uncovered by ultrafast laser pumping is more common than you might think. Dumping a bunch of energy into a system in less than 30fs (30 x 10^-15s) creates a profoundly non-equilibrium situation. Whatever phase of matter you observe right after will likely have no equilibrium analogue. > The perpendicular version of the CDW that appears after the burst of laser light has never before been observed…
It's upsetting. Reminds me of when the CERN people made that paper about modulated plasma wave acceleration, and pretended they were the first to do it, or at least the popular press did. You only realize it when it's your field (as do I here) but we in physics ought to talk to each other more.
Re: Ultrafast laser pulses produce a previously unseen phase of matter
#17New phases of matter uncovered by ultrafast laser pumping is more common than you might think. Dumping a bunch of energy into a system in less than 30fs (30 x 10^-15s) creates a profoundly non-equilibrium situation. Whatever phase of matter you observe right after will likely have no equilibrium analogue. > The perpendicular version of the CDW that appears after the burst of laser light has never before been observed…
It's upsetting. Reminds me of when the CERN people made that paper about modulated plasma wave acceleration, and pretended they were the first to do it, or at least the popular press did. You only realize it when it's your field (as do I here) but we in physics ought to talk to each other more.
To be fair, the authors are not claiming that this is the first time, only that this is the first time in this material. As you say, the press makes it up to be different than it is.
Re: Ultrafast laser pulses produce a previously unseen phase of matter
#18> The idea that two possible states of matter might be in competition and that the dominant mode is suppressing one or more alternative modes is fairly common in quantum materials, the researchers say. This suggests that there may be latent states lurking unseen in many kinds of matter that could be unveiled if a way can be found to suppress the dominant state. How exciting! I can only daydream about the kind of disc…
I don't understand it enough to get excited - what are the potential applications?
I don't think we can comment on any applications at this time.
A lot of discoveries like these aren't exciting because of commercial potential, if that's what you mean by applications. As we discover more states and more properties of these states, as we develop technologies to persist these states for longer than a fleeting amount of time, we might discover interesting properties which may have commercial uses. Sometimes, the technologies developed to create/contain such exotic materials themselves tend to have commercial applications. That's how it is with the interplay of science and technology with the economy.
Re: Ultrafast laser pulses produce a previously unseen phase of matter
#19Just when you think Physics has little left to discover, something you never expected creates a whole new avenue to explore. "When I began my physical studies [in Munich in 1874] and sought advice from my venerable teacher Philipp von Jolly...he portrayed to me physics as a highly developed, almost fully matured science" - Max Planck
I don't think physics will ever be fully matured. There is always a "Why?" that needs an answer.
I'm not sure that "Why?" is always going to be a physics question, but certainly even after we understand the smallest building blocks, we will need specific models of arbitrarily complex systems where the basic rules are computationally infeasible or resistant to simple analysis.
Of course, understanding the true and most basic workings of nature will also take a lot of work, just not a literally infinite supply.
Re: Ultrafast laser pulses produce a previously unseen phase of matter
#20> "What if all you need to do is shine light on a material, and this new state comes into being?" Wonder if it's related to photosynthesis?
It's not. Photosynthesis is a chemical reaction where light provides energy and that only involves gas, liquid and solid states of matter. These guys are talking about entirely different states of matter.
This experiment only involves solids. The new phase is a different electronic structure of the same crystal.