Scientists discover laser light can cast a shadow
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Can light itself cast a shadow? It may sound like a philosophical riddle, but researchers have found that under certain conditions, a laser beam can act like an opaque object and cast a shadow. The discovery challenges the traditional understanding of shadows and opens new possibilities for technologies that could use a laser beam to control another laser beam.
"Laser light casting a shadow was previously thought impossible since light usually passes through other light without interacting," said research team leader Raphael A. Abrahao from Brookhaven National Laboratory, previously at the University of Ottawa. "Our demonstration of a very counter-intuitive optical effect invites us to reconsider our notion of shadow."
In Optica, researchers describe how they used a ruby crystal and specific laser wavelengths to show that a laser beam could block light and create a visible shadow due to a nonlinear optical process. This effect occurs when light interacts with a material in an intensity-dependent way and can influence another optical field.
