For Dr. Who fans seeking to be teleported to another dimension, here comes a scientific breakthrough once thought impossible.
Scientists have discovered a technique to turn pure light into matter — a feat first conceived 80 years ago.
According to Gregory Breit and John Archibald Wheeler’s original theory in 1934, it is possible to turn light into matter by smashing two particles of light (photons) to create particles with mass (an electron and a positron).
While they agreed the theory was sound, they didn’t believe it could be achieved in a lab.
But for the first time, physicists from the Imperial College of London have proven them wrong.
“What was so surprising to us was the discovery of how we can create matter directly from light using the technology that we have today in the UK,” Steve Rose from the Department of Physics at Imperial College London said.
“As we are theorists we are now talking to others who can use our ideas to undertake this landmark experiment.”
The new research study, published in Nature Phonics, outlines an experiment which would recreate a process that occurred in the first 100 seconds of the universe’s creation.
The process is also seen in gamma ray bursts, which are the biggest explosions in the universe and “one of physics’ greatest unsolved mysteries.”
The “photon-photon collider” experiment involves two steps.
First, scientists would use a laser to speed up electrons to slightly slower than the speed of light before firing the electrons into a slab of gold to create a beam of powerful photons.
To complete the collider, scientists would need a tiny gold hollow cylindrical shell known as a hohlraum.
Another high-energy laser would be fired at the inner surface of the hohlraum to create a thermal radiation field that generates light similar to that of the stars.
Shooting the first photon beam through the container and the field would cause the photons from the two sources to collide and form electrons and their antimatter equivalent, positrons.
“Although the theory is conceptually simple, it has been very difficult to verify experimentally,” Oliver Pike, the lead researcher of the study, said.
“We were able to develop the idea for the collider very quickly, but the experimental design we propose can be carried out with relative ease and with existing technology.”