In A Quantum First, Light Is Created From A Vacuum
Sparks Fly g_kat26 on Flickr In what may be a landmark experimental proof of quantum mechanics, a group of researchers from Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden is claiming to have created sparks in a vacuum. According to quantum theory, empty space is, well, not that empty after all. Rather it is full of virtual particles - particles that quickly blip in and out of existence. Theory states that a mirror can absorb energy from some of these virtual photons, and re-emit it as actual photons. Of course, this only works if the mirror is traveling through the vacuum at nearly the speed of light, making it difficult to prove, to say the least. Per Delsing and his team of physicists worked around this by using something called a superconducting quantum interference device, or SQUID. The SQUID, which is very sensitive to magnetic fields, acted as a mirror in the researchers' superconducting...