Scientists have found a new way to turn light into matter

Researchers have found a more effective method of creating matter from high-power laser radiation.

Scientists have previously conducted experiments onconverting light into matter, but they produced only one pair of particles for about every 100 pulses, and also required the additional use of a high-energy stream of electrons. However, a team from the University of California at San Diego reported modeling a new method in which only light is involved, and each beam of energy produces tens to hundreds of thousands of pairsparticles.

The process begins with targeting ultra-shortlaser pulses with a power of 4 PW onto a dense target, which makes it “relativistically transparent.” Because the laser moves at close to the speed of light, it forces electrons into the target, generating a very strong magnetic field, like a neutron star.

Although this field exists for only a quadrillionth of a second, it creates gamma radiation, in the collision of beams of which electron-positron pairs (particles of matter and antimatter) are generated.

In fact, the experiment simulates the conditions of the firstminutes of the existence of the universe, therefore, it gives scientists the opportunity to learn more about this period of time, and also to understand why it has more substance than antimatter. The first installation tests should begin in a couple of years.

Earlier, we also reported that physicists were one step closer to creating a gamma laser.

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