Slow Light

The following sections are included:

• Contents

• Introduction

You're reading these words under natural or artificial light, light that seems so ordinary that you take it for granted. Yet although light surrounds us, it is anything but ordinary. Its ancient role in the universe and its unique properties make it remarkable. Equally remarkably, light's science-fictionish behavior — such as its dual nature as wave and quantum particle and its ability to be teleported — can be applied in daily use and in advanced technology. Light also plays a continuing role in culture and in fantasy, from ancient myths to contemporary science fiction. All this has roots in humanity's long study of light…

Along with Einstein's equation E = mc², probably the single best known piece of popular physics lore also comes from Einstein's work; it is the fact that the speed of light is the speed limit for the universe. As a popular T-shirt puts it, alongside an image of Einstein togged out as a traffic cop, “186,000 miles per second is not just a good idea, it's the law”…

We live in a fascinating universe, one that we yearn to examine by all means possible, starting with observation through telescopes and ending with human exploration. But in laying out the universe, Nature, or God — whichever you prefer — has played a huge practical joke that blocks our desire to learn more in person, for the expanses to be covered are almost beyond comprehension even at the speed of light…

The great contemporary physicist Richard Feynman won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1965 for his work on the highly abstract quantum theory of photons, but he is also credited with drawing attention to nanoscience, a field with widespread application. He did that in a famous address he made in 1959 called “There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom”, referring to the fact that the science and technology at very small scales would be of immense fundamental interest and great practical importance — as of course has proven true in the active field of nanotechnology…

The universe flashed into existence with an inconceivable outpouring of energy that marked the Big Bang. What started it all is still an open question that may never be answered, but there is considerable evidence about the state of the universe a tiny instant after the (literal) beginning of time. What was then a small, extremely hot cosmos contained photons with incredibly high energies. As the universe expanded, the temperature decreased and the nature and distribution of the light changed. Some turned into matter that eventually became stars and other light sources that now stud the universe; some continued to travel through space…

To be invisible, we imagine, is to be powerful. Envision being able to go where you will without being detected; to secretly gather information, eavesdrop on private conversations, and watch events not meant to be seen; to carry out daring or even immoral acts and escape without a trace. That sense of great, covert, not necessarily legal power explains why personal invisibility and its attractions are such lasting themes…

New technologies have traditionally elicited disbelief when they were introduced, probably ever since some early human amazed the rest of the tribe by wielding the first stone axe. Later, steam engines, automobiles, and flying machines were seen as wondrous when they were new. That's in keeping with Arthur C. Clarke's famous dictum, one of his Three Laws of Prediction: “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” The sense of magical awe also accompanied the early electrical technology that led to today's electronic and photonic science. In 1896, 16 years after Thomas Edison patented his incandescent light bulb, one observer of the new field of electric lighting was still sufficiently dazzled to say, “One miracle has followed another until we can only wonder what apparent impossibility will be accomplished next”…

The following sections are included:

• Acknowledgements

• Further Reading, Surfing, and Viewing

• Index