Scientists have made a significant breakthrough by being able to transform matter using only light.
This new breakthrough opens up possibilities for creating items such as windows that can instantly transform into mirrors, or high-speed computers that use light instead of electricity, along with many other exciting products.
“These tools could allow you to change the electronic properties of matter with just a flick of a switch. However, current technology is still limited by the excessive heat generated by lasers within the material,” said David Hsieh, a physics professor at Caltech.
The transformation caused by the laser is reversible.
According to the Independent, scientists have long hoped to use lasers to shape and transform matter. However, they have consistently faced the thermal barrier that arises during laser use, which can damage anything they attempt to illuminate.
“The lasers needed for those experiments are very powerful, making it extremely difficult to prevent heat from being generated and damaging the material,” said Junyi Shan, the lead author of the study.
“On one hand, we want to shine a very high-intensity laser on the material. On the other hand, we do not want the material to absorb all that light.”
To address this issue, the scientists discovered a perfect method in which the laser is fine-tuned to change the properties of the material without generating heat.
They also found that the transformation caused by the laser is reversible, meaning that when the laser is turned off, the material will return to its previous state.
The researchers have studied such a system for many years, based on principles established since the 1960s. However, now that the experiments have been successful, they are confident that it can be applied in real-world scenarios rather than remaining a distant dream.
With this technology, we can potentially create new types of materials—such as quantum magnets—things that were previously considered impossible.
“In principle, this method can change optical, magnetic, and many other properties of matter. Instead of creating new materials to achieve different properties, we can take one material and endow it with a variety of useful characteristics,” Shan stated.
