First black hole for light created on Earth

New Scientist ^ | 10/14/09 | Anil Ananthaswamy

[mamelukesabre]

Or you can just paint it black. Same thing. I see black stuff all the time. It’s not invisible. Except in the absence of light, and then everything is invisible.

[Old Professer]

You don’t do a lot of dating, do you?

[Pontiac]

Not since I got married.

The wife doesn’t like it when I do.

[KoRn]

Somebody better stop this!!

THEY ARE GONNA DESTROY THE PLANET!!!!!

Minorities and the homeless will be most affected....

[Blood of Tyrants]

Mirrors merely reflect light. This device actually captures it.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

You can concentrate a helluva lot of light with mirrors. Ask Archemides. There was actually a French solar plant where the U.S. tested components for resistance to nuclear blast effects, “thermal shock”. They rigged the focal point with a fast shutter and than, wham, opened it up for a couple of seconds to see how the unit under test survived the blast.

Another post pointed out the this “draws in light from space”. Basically a graviational lens is just a lens, albeit lossless. Reflective/refractive optics don’t get me excited, even if it’s refraction based on < hushed and awed tones> General Relativity.

[Blood of Tyrants]

I think that the advantage is the physical size. Also you would not have the problems associated with dirty, fragile mirrors which have to be moved periodically for optimum light reflection.

[Neidermeyer]

So when do we get free 3-D / 4-D porn on our televisions from this?

[SunkenCiv]

The device, which works at microwave frequencies, may soon be extended to trap visible light, leading to an entirely new way of harvesting solar energy to generate electricity.

Uh, yah. :')

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[ConservativeMind]

Nothing is reflected or poorly absorbed. All the light is trapped for 100% use.

[allmost]

A theoretical design for a table-top black hole to trap light was proposed in a paper published earlier this year by Evgenii Narimanov and Alexander Kildishev of Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana.

sweet

[arthurus]

And then...?

[arthurus]

Can you then keep it in a bottle in the refrigerator?

[SuperLuminal]

"So does this thing actually bend light towards it? "

"steering"or "bouncing" or "continuously reflecting" might be better descriptors...

But then, that wouldn't sound as impressive when begging for the next grant-renewal, grant, or other funding...