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A bunch of news sources are reporting that a group from the UK is working on a way to produce matter from light. As far as I was aware this was impossible so I assume that the news is getting it wrong again and/or sensationalising. But even in the abstract of the paper it's claimed that producing matter from light is possible. Am I misunderstanding something here? I'm wondering if the source of my confusion is that maybe it is possible to technically make matter from light but that doesn't mean that hypothetically you could have a technology that takes light in one end and spits atoms out the other.
News article: http://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/may/18/matter-light-photons-electrons-positrons?CMP=fb_gu
Paper: http://www.nature.com/nphoton/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nphoton.2014.95.html
A photon–photon collider in a vacuum hohlraum
O. J. Pike, F. Mackenroth, E. G. Hill & S. J. Rose
News article: http://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/may/18/matter-light-photons-electrons-positrons?CMP=fb_gu
Paper: http://www.nature.com/nphoton/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nphoton.2014.95.html
A photon–photon collider in a vacuum hohlraum
O. J. Pike, F. Mackenroth, E. G. Hill & S. J. Rose
The ability to create matter from light is amongst the most striking predictions of quantum electrodynamics. Experimental signatures of this have been reported in the scattering of ultra-relativistic electron beams with laser beams, intense laser–plasma interactions and laser-driven solid target scattering. However, all such routes involve massive particles. The simplest mechanism by which pure light can be transformed into matter, Breit–Wheeler pair production (γγ′ e+e−), has never been observed in the laboratory. Here, we present the design of a new class of photon–photon collider in which a gamma-ray beam is fired into the high-temperature radiation field of a laser-heated hohlraum. Matching experimental parameters to current-generation facilities, Monte Carlo simulations suggest that this scheme is capable of producing of the order of 105 Breit–Wheeler pairs in a single shot. This would provide the first realization of a pure photon–photon collider, representing the advent of a new type of high-energy physics experiment.
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