Captive Light Dream

2007/11/15 Roa Zubia, Guillermo - Elhuyar Zientzia

• Fisika

Light can slow down and remain, at least in theory. But how? British physicist Ortwin Hess has discovered that it can be done with metamaterials. These materials present a negative refractive index, the rays of light tilt with an angle when passing from air to water, while when entering a metamaterial deviate with an opposite angle. Hess has made calculations to find out what happens to light in a three-material system that has a metamaterial interspersed. The result is that the system slows down the light and also depends on the thickness of the whole system.From a thickness the light would be completely inside, yes, physically separating the rays of different colors. Somehow it would catch the rainbow within a special material. This material does not exist, but is believed to be in the process of existing

Photo: Boris Starosta