Pseudogravity That Bends Light Just Like Real Gravity Created by Engineers in a Laboratory - The Debrief
thedebrief.org
A team of researchers working with photonic crystals say they have created pseudogravity in the lab that bends light like real gravity.

Researchers studying photonic crystals say they have successfully created a form of pseudogravity that bends light just like real gravity. The new technique could have a dramatic effect on advanced communication technologies like 6G, as well as other applications in optics and materials science that could benefit from a no-contact method of manipulating light.

  • Varyk
    38·
    1 year ago

    So this is complex refraction, not any form of gravity?

    • subignition@kbin.social
      33·
      1 year ago

      Crystals With No Relation To Gravity Whatsoever Produce A Similar Effect To One Of The Things Gravity Does (They Bend Light) doesn’t roll off the tongue

      • Varyk
        26·
        1 year ago

        I would gladly accept the extended headline in place of such an asinine misguidance.

        Thank you. I did say that out loud and it was very funny.

        • mindbleach
          2·
          1 year ago

          I look forward to cwnrtgwpasetoottgdtbls becoming an industry-standard acronym like lasers.

          There’s exciting applications for their longer-wavelength cousins, cwnrtgwpasetoottgdtbms.

          • Varyk
            1·
            1 year ago

            Hahahaha, the scientific world will give thanks

      • AA5B@lemmy.world
        3·
        1 year ago

        Consider eyeglasses. I have very thick glasses that help me focus by using lenses with different refraction than surrounding air to bend the light. Do I use pseudo-gravity to see?

        Then most of the article is about really cool functionality described similar to some electronics basic operations that could potentially grow into logic gates or switches, which would be very cool, and still has nothing to do with gravity.

    • BloodSlut@lemmy.world
      2·
      1 year ago

      And “without contact”?

      I dont know, but i think light has to pass through something for refraction to actually mean anything

      • Varyk
        2·
        1 year ago

        Thank you BloodSlut, that’s a good point. It’s hard to nail down though because it’s the physical shape of crystal that’s bending the light but it is equally important to note that it does not contact…but isn’t that what refraction is?

        So even though the light is technically passing through the crystal, well, I guess that is still refraction isn’t it? It’s complex refraction because it’s being made to travel through the substrate in a particular way unlike the common way light passes through crystals.

        a facilitated, specialized refraction.

        But I guess since it bends light in the shape that light would bend around an object for to gravity they’re calling It pseudogravity, even though that’s sort of like calling a sea turtle a pseudoshark since they both move through water even though their movements are based on different properties.

        Or maybe like calling flailing your arms while drowning pseudoswimming, since the motions are similar but the reason for those motions occurring are totally different?

        Thanks for bringing up the no-contact thing.