Slow Light: Experiments & Observations

[dcl]

Hey, I'm very inexperienced when it comes to this sort of Physics.

I have read recently that they have managed to slow light down to 17 m/s.

Was the experiment observable by the human eye by any chance?
Could they actually see the light propogate at 17m/s through the given gas/what ever.

Any chance a video has been released of it, given the above is true?


Thanks in advance.

 

[Ambitwistor]

Originally posted by dcl
I have read recently that they have managed to slow light down to 17 m/s.

Was the experiment observable by the human eye by any chance?

It wasn't visible to the naked eye. The cloud of atoms was only a few hundred micrometers across, and light traversed it in tens of microseconds. They took pictures of the cloud before and after they sent light through it, but not during: they didn't want the imaging beam to interfere with the experiment. (The Bose-Einstein condensate of atoms is a very delicate state to maintain, and they didn't want to shine any extraneous light on it.)

 

[dcl]

Ahhh ok.
Thought so.


Thanks for clearing that up for me.