warp drive here we come?

[robphelan]

Controlling the light fantastic

• Researchers in Switzerland have successfully demonstrated for the first time that it is possible to control the speed of light ? both slowing it down and speeding it up ? in an optical fibre.
  
  The finding of Luc Thévenaz and his fellow researchers in the Nanophotonics and Metrology laboratory at Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) could have implications that range from optical computing to the fibre-optic telecommunications industry, reports science portal EurekAlert.
  
  Using their Stimulated Brillouin Scattering (SBS) method, the group was able to slow a light signal down by a factor of 3.6, creating a sort of temporary "optical memory". They were also able to create extreme conditions in which the light signal travelled faster than 300 million meters a second.
  
  And even though this seems to violate all sorts of cherished physical assumptions ? Einstein needn't move over ? relativity isn't called into question because only a portion of the signal is affected.
  
  This is not the first time that scientists have tweaked the speed of a light signal. Even light passing through a window or water is slowed down a fraction as it travels through the medium.
  
  In fact, in the right conditions, scientists have been able to slow light down to the speed of a bicycle, or even stop it altogether.

 

[bonkers325]

ludacris speed, here we come

 

[PingSpike]

I need more dylithium crystals for my moped.

 

[Continuity28]

Considering the topic of the speed of light comes up at least twice a month on Highly Technical, I'm surprised this has not appeared there yet. Or has it?

You should start one over there too, I want to hear what people have to say.

 

[nakedfrog]

What's this got to do with a warp drive?

 

[So]

If you read more in depth, they haven't increased the speed of light for an actual photon.

And matter...not even close.

At lest that's the way I understand.

 

[Sureshot324]

It's been a well known fact for a long time that the speed of light varies depending on what material it's traveling through, so I don't see how this is a big surprise.

 

[SagaLore]

I read about this. It only had to do with the properties of light and various mediums, it is not changing anything with spacetime. What they're doing has nothing to do with warp speed or hypserspace.