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Scientists Work Out How To Make MatterFrom LightMay 19, 2014 | by Stephen Luntz

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photo credit: An empty golden can called a hohlraum could open the path to experimental proof of an 80 yearold theory

Theoretical physicists have proposed a way they think will allow us to create matter fromlight. The experiment has yet to be done, but has passed peer review as practical and theinventors are in discussions with experimentalists with the equipment to carry it out. Theproposal has created excitement because, while it has been accepted for 80 years that twophotons of light could theoretically create matter, for that time the demonstrational proofwas regarded as beyond the reach of lab equipment. As Einstein's much quoted, but seldom understood, equation e=mc tells us, matter andenergy are connected. One can turn into another. Light is one of the forms of energyproduced from matter in atomic bombs. However, going the other way is more of achallenge. In 1934 Gregory Breit and John Wheeler proposed that, under the right circumstances, twophotons of light would convert into an electron and its antimatter equivalent the positron.Breit-Wheeler pair production is classified as one of seven basic types of light and matterinteractions (see chart below). The others all resulted in Nobel Prizes, either for theexperimentalist who observed it or the theoretician who explained it. (In some cases,observations came before theory, whereas in others it was the reverse). "Despite all physicists accepting the theory to be true, when Breit and Wheeler firstproposed the theory, they said that they never expected it be shown in the laboratory,” saysProfessor Steve Rose of Imperial College London. However, the options open toexperimentalists have expanded a lot since then.

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Earlier this year two physicists from the University of Warsaw, Katarzyna Krajewska andJerzy Kaminski modeled the distributions of electron-positron pairs created when laser andnonlaser photons collide, noting that the “rapid development of high-power laser technologyhas led to a renaissance of theoretical interest in strong-eld quantum electrodynamics.” Now Rose and his Phd student Oliver Pike have come up with a way to put this sort ofmodeling to the test. In Nature Photonics they propose a two step process. High intensitylasers would be used to push electrons until they are traveling close to the speed of light,directing them towards a slab of gold. The electrons' impact would release high energygamma rays. Ordinary gamma rays, such as those produced by many nuclear decays, willnot do it. The photons produced here are 1000 times as energetic as those at at thedivision between X-Rays and gamma rays, or a billion times that of visible light. Then it would be necessary to send the output of a high energy laser inside an otherwisehollow gold tube and fire the light at the tube's inner surface to create a spread ofwavelengths. If the high energy gamma rays from the first stage are directed into theultraheated center of the tube Rose and Pike believe the collisions between the two sorts ofphotons would not only produce electron-positron pairs, but do so in such numbers “of theorder of 100,000 pairs” that they would be detectable. "Although the theory is conceptually simple, it has been very difficult to verifyexperimentally. We were able to develop the idea for the collider very quickly, but theexperimental design we propose can be carried out with relative ease and with existingtechnology,” says Pike. The idea came not from a systematic search for a Breit-Wheeler demonstration, but Pike'scontribution to the quest for nuclear fusion. The hollow gold can, known as a hohlraum is astaple of fusion research. “Within a few hours of looking for applications of hohlraumsoutside their traditional role in fusion energy research we were astonished to find theyprovided the perfect conditions for creating a photon collider,” Pike says. There is, of course, many a slip between the can and the lip. Although Pike and Rose arecollaborating with labs with the equipment to try the experiment out it has yet to be done.

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The vast expense of energy to create a few electrons would make this a dead loss as acommercial process, but the potential to shed light on the quantum world matters greatly.

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Comments for this thread are now closed.

237 Comments IFL Science

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Evan Meeden • 7 months ago

So you're telling me you can finally make my food at the touch of a button?! 3△ ▽

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Jake • 7 months ago

wonder how big of a bomb will be threatening the world after this matter i successfully created △ ▽

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Chris Cosgrove • 7 months ago

Matter and energy are not interchangeable they are the same, this is what Einstein really meant by his famous andoft quoted equation. This experiment is merely an adjustment in our perspective which has to change the observedresult. I have no doubt the experiment will work but it will still prove nothing more than math has little to offer us whenit comes to knowledge and enlightenment.

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Chris Cosgrove • 7 months ago

Light doesn't turn into matter or vice versa......they are the same 1△ ▽

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•

Chris Cosgrove • 7 months ago

Einstein wasn't saying matter and energy are interchangeable he was saying they are the same, this experimenteven if it works which I am fairly certain it will proves nothing but will raise more questions and bring us no closer toexplaining the link between matter and energy. It is only our limited conscious human perception that requires themto be interchangeable, the reality is that matter and energy are the same we just aren't able to explain thatmathematically......and we never will. My message to all scientists out there and not just physicists is keep doingwhat you are doing but also expand your thinking way beyond what you are currently focussed on, math provides uswith an ability to apply knowledge but knowledge is far more than math can ever explain, realise this and you are onyour way to understanding, ignore it and you are no smarter than the 5th grader who will eventually be critiquing yourpaper less than 100 years from now.

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Luis Armando • 7 months ago

Science is a LIAR... sometimes. 1△ ▽

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Augusto • 7 months ago

Green Lantern origins. △ ▽

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Joshua Joseph Neumann • 7 months ago

"...but the potential to shed light on the quantum world matters greatly."

'MATTERS GREATLY'! 7△ ▽

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Sirgma • 7 months ago

God is light and he created all matter. Read your bible, it knew this before science existed. 1△ ▽

P0lT10n • 7 months ago> Sirgma

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•

So, god is energy, that is called Taoism... 18△ ▽

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murrayscott66 • 7 months ago

I must be missing something.

Electron-Positron pair production from gamma photons is commonplace, in fact it was central to the project Ibecame involved in from my first day at work in 1967, connecting and calibrating a Sodium Iodide scintillationdetector configured as a "pair spectrometer". Pair production and annihilation is easily observed with 2.75Mevgamma rays from a Na 24 source. At this energy, positrons are produced about as often as the gamma iscompletely absorbed by the photoelectric effect. The positron invariably recombines with an electron to annihilate,producing two 511 KeV photons in opposite directions.

The pulse height spectrum from such a detector exhibits three peaks and a continuum, corresponding to whether agamma ray is a) absorbed entirely in the detector or b) produces a positron that subsequently annihilates with one511 KeV gamma escaping, or c) ditto with both 511 Kev gammas escaping or d) scatters by the Compton effect toproduce a lower energy gamma that escapes the detector. See eg.

http://www.physics.uoguelph.ca...

I must admit I was amazed to be shown such direct evidence of something so esoteric! 6△ ▽

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Gordon S. • 7 months ago> murrayscott66

OK, I am no native English speaker, but I am baffled at the fact that I didn't understand that much of yourposting. Regardless, I consider your contribution as a valuable comment and am sad that it doesn't seem tobe possible to highlight it more.

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Jeff Dickson • 7 months ago

Re: the discussion i just read. I didn't know scientists were so bitchy. 2△ ▽

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•

The Slug Thrower • 7 months ago

The Forerunners have returned. 3△ ▽

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Stevo Morrissey • 7 months ago

What would be the outcome of this experiment without a hollow gold tube? Doesn't matter! 3△ ▽

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Miles Hamilton • 7 months ago

didnt jesus do this in that book i read? 1△ ▽

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Joe Redish • 7 months ago

I'm disappointed in the hype title and that no one has pointed out that we already do what the title says and have doneit for decades. Every time a gamma ray scatters from a nucleus and creates an electron-positron pair the energy ofthe light is being changed to matter. What the new thing is creating matter from light directly without the assistanceof any charge as a catalyst.

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Geoff Offermann • 7 months ago

I did this yesterday. In my kitchen. With a colander, a pasta machine and a lava lamp. It really works! 1△ ▽

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Jim Morriss • 7 months ago> Geoff Offermann

But you gotta use a good lava lamp from Spencers Gift or the Sky Mall. You can't use one of those cheap lavalamps from WalMart or Dolllar tree.

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David McAdam Freud • 7 months ago

What matter would you like to create from light?

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• 1△ ▽

•

Ph • 7 months ago

What in the heck are you going to do with a bunch of free electrons? 1△ ▽

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Jim Morriss • 7 months ago> Ph

Enslave Them!!! Mooo hooo hahahahah!

You don't want to just leave them on a shelf. They collect dust like glue. But a nice display cabinet wouldwork.

2△ ▽

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Skeeter • 7 months ago> Ph

Sell them, rent them out...maybe give them away for a tax deduction. △ ▽

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Robert Bailey • 7 months ago> Ph

Detect them. △ ▽

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Postbag • 7 months ago

I'm sure we can make everything out of anything, as it's all coming from one common source: energy.

Matter is merely a concept that explains the playing of energy it does, there is no "stuff" in the universe, only energy.

We just have to figure out how..

I think that monoatomic gold is a quite interesting thing to research if you're willing to learn about this. Involves somedisregarded alchemy though, but very very interesting stuff, known that it was used by ancient civilizations before us..

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•

You lied in the title. I'm so glad I use adblock when this kind of thing happens. 1△ ▽

•

orquidia45 • 7 months ago

Very interesting! △ ▽

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Peter Leighton • 7 months ago

Never mind quantum physics....Next stop, mass produced home entertainment holo-decks. 2△ ▽

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gallowaygrumblefield • 7 months ago

Speculating out loud here, but it seems like some day in the far future, they could use something like a giant fresnellens to amplify sunlight in space, and then some means to make the photons coherent, as the energy source forconversion. Conceivably they could make gold. More practically, they could make energy beams, which could berelayed by space dishes, and used to turn turbines on earth, or energize photovoltaic farms. You wouldn't want to flyan airplane through it, though, and it would be a disaster for flocks of migrating birds flying through it.

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Stuart • 7 months ago

but seldom understood, equation e=mc2

Hilariously ironic:In fact 'e' is the symbol for the charge on an electron, E means energy (and a pedant would italicise the whole thing).Could you fail any harder?

2△ ▽

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Jim Morriss • 7 months ago> Stuart

AWW Geeze. Really?! The grammar police are gonna pick on that too? I guess it is a large difference inmeaning.

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•

G.I.C • 7 months ago

Stop meddling about in other fields and invent cold fusion already! With me everyone: WE WANT COLD FUSION! △ ▽

•

Garrett Hunsicker • 7 months ago

I like the pun at the end of the article "but the potential to shed light on the quantum world" △ ▽

•

Stefano Mazzoni • 7 months ago

Pokéball!!! :D △ ▽

•

Maria Irina Plaku • 7 months ago

I just found out what I want my wedding ring to be made of. △ ▽

•

Jim Morriss • 7 months ago> Maria Irina Plaku

Reality? △ ▽

•

Francis Gavin • 7 months ago

So does this mean that "In the beginning..." there was energy which big banged into matter? △ ▽

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Matthew Burns • 7 months ago> Francis Gavin

No, the big bang states that in the beginning there was nothing. No light, energy, gravity, etc and all of thosethings just sort of came out of nothing.

△ ▽

Barbara Romanowski • 7 months ago

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•

But... every light nuclear reaction (merger) is just that. Especially if the energy input is from light. NIF, for example... △ ▽

•

Jonathan White • 7 months ago

Now this is stuff that MATTERS! Hahaha. Im so lame. △ ▽

•

RanceTheMajesticRap • 7 months ago

if this really work nicely....a new branch of application would open

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elena • 7 months ago

Intellectual arrogance is rude, and disheartening. The fact that non scientist are now interested in subjects like this isencouraging. For those who know more, don't blugeon over the head anyone with scientifically incorrect opnions,rather encourage people to ask questions and seek information. Those who know more should have an obligation toteach those who know less if we are to seriously claim that science serves humanity

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blair houghton • 7 months ago

so...what do we have to do to get a working copy of the freaking picture? △ ▽

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Kira Borg • 7 months ago

This is not serious. Energy and matter NEVER turn to one another. E=MC2 is not telling this. It tells only that energyand mass are equall, it means only that if mass changes then energy changes, and vice versa.

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James Wu • 7 months ago> Kira Borg

Ever tried burning coal? Burning coal turns coal (MATTER) into heat and light (Freaking ENERGY) 4△ ▽

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William Coleman • 7 months ago

This would seem to answer the question to; whether or not the big bang was possible, considering that was animplosion of light and energy. Too bad these are "theoretical physicists." So in other words: Fake, Phony, made up,fictional, etc. I love science too, but I also have a common sense feature that little too many people have nowadays!HAHAHA

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gallowaygrumblefield • 7 months ago> William Coleman

*face palm* 2△ ▽

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Lodovico Cerato • 7 months ago> William Coleman

So relativity, quantum physics, black holes and the big bang are fake?Whithout theoretical pysicists you had nor even internet to write comments that point to your ignorance

2△ ▽

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Jim Morriss • 7 months ago> Lodovico Cerato

Not the big bang, I watch that all the time. △ ▽

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Vanadise • 7 months ago> William Coleman

I'm not sure how you're making the leap from "theoretical" to "fake." Are you suggesting that gravity andrelativity are fake, too? They're "just" theories, after all.

6△ ▽

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