Storing light.

[A.R.Cane]

Scientists have managed to stop light, hold it trapped in a cloud of chilled atoms known as a Bose Einstein condensate, and then release it in a second cloud a short distance away

As discussed on NPR’s, Science Friday. The audio link is available here:
http://www.sciencefriday.com/feed/
Sorry, it’s not available in text format. The audio file is about 16 minutes long.

I won’t pretend to understand how this works and I don’t have a clue as to whether it can ever be done in a practical way, but it staggers the imagination to think of the possibilities this could open up. Data storage and transfer, energy storage and transfer, perhaps even bringing Star Trek’s “beam me up, Scotty” to reality?

[AuntiePam]

I listened to the report Friday afternoon and didn’t understand a word of it, but Ira Flatow’s excitement was contagious. The physicist was matter of fact about it, but apparently it’s pretty special.

“We captured a mile long string of light and condensed it to one centimeter and we can carry it around and let it out someplace else!” Or something like that. Cool.