The Idea Factory: A real-life lightsaber
Star Wars fans take heed
Good news, Star Wars fans. Physicists from MIT and Harvard have engineered a new form of matter that behaves "just like a lightsaber," said Adam Clark Estes at Gizmodo. Scientists managed to clump together photons — massless particles of light that don't normally interact with one another — to form a molecule. When two lasers are aimed at one another, their beams typically pass through one another. But the "photonic molecules" created here "push against and deflect each other," said Harvard physicist Mikhail Lukin. "The physics of what's happening in these molecules is similar to what we see in the movies."
A free daily email with the day’s biggest news and analysis – and the best features from TheWeek.com
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.
Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.