It's an illusion. The article even says so, even thought the headline implies otherwise.
Big deal! I want my flux capacitor!
photonic ping!
"....and even stopping it all together."
Cool, when can they pile it up and package it ? I'll buy a box, open the top and shine the super concentrated beam on photocells in my glove compartment to run my car !
Here's a great flash presentation that explains it all.
http://gregegan.customer.netspace.net.au/APPLETS/20/20.html
I'm having trouble with this. For one, what if the light is all one frequency, as in a laser? For two, doesn't incoherent light all travel at C? Do different frequencies travel faster and slower? If so, then why don't the frequencies separate during regular transmission?
It's not just a good idea. It's the law.
For those interested, this was predicted by quantum electrodynamics, one of the most impressive theories in all of science. I would recommend anyone read Feynman's book QED if you want to know more information.
Bet they get worse gas mileage, though.
Much slower electrical signals? Hardly. The problem with electrical signals is not their speed, but the capacitance slowing down clear transitions, and the resistance at high frequency.
Somebody 'splain to me where this 'misconception' is, because I was pretty sure that one of Einstein's laws is exactly that.
Speeding up the speed of light? Hah! This is easy. Everytime I go 70 miles per hour down the highway and turn on my headlights, then that light is going the speed of light plus 70 miles per hour!... :)
If going the speed of light stops time, then if I can slow light down, will that make it easier to time travel? If we slow light by 75% and I can go twice that, will that mean I can go back in time?
I may be old fashioned and like the priests who persecuted Galileo, but until it is proven, I refuse to accept time tripping as anything but science fiction.
OK, but the "speed of light" in a fiber optic filament is not 186K miles per second as it is in a vacuum, but is reduced in proportion to the refractive index of the glass. I was embarrassed back when I was a mechanical engineer working on an electro-optics design layout and had to have this explained to me by a physicist - - something I had known when I was 12 years old and had forgotten. The neat illustration in the old 1912 encyclopedia at home was based on a formation of troops approaching a plowed field. Their marching speed slowed down when they hit the rough, so the whole formation had to change its direction to keep in step. Refraction explained!
