Wednesday, August 10, 2005

Tiny Photon Resonator

This is so cool!

Caltech Scientists Create Tiny Photon Clock
In a new development that could be useful for future electronic devices, applied physicists at the California Institute of Technology have created a tiny disk that vibrates steadily like a tuning fork while it is pumped with light. This is the first micro-mechanical device that has been operated at a steady frequency by the action of photons alone.

Here's a picture:

You swing a bunch of photons down the edge, it collects them, they start exerting a pressure on the edge, it changes its shape, it stops collecting, and it relaxes until it starts over again. A neat little resonator!! So cool!

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