Solid light, often referred to in media as "hard light" or "hard-light", is a hypothetical material, made of light in a solidified state. It has been theorized that this could exist, and experiments claim to have created solid photonic matter or molecules by inducing strong interaction between photons. Potential applications of this could include

logic gate A logic gate is an idealized or physical device implementing a Boolean function, a logical operation performed on one or more binary inputs that produces a single binary output. Depending on the context, the term may refer to an ideal logic gate, ...

s for

quantum computer Quantum computing is a type of computation whose operations can harness the phenomena of quantum mechanics, such as superposition, interference, and entanglement. Devices that perform quantum computations are known as quantum computers. Though ...

s and room-temperature superconductor development.

Experiments

In theory, photons, the particles that make up forms of electromagnetic radiation like light, may be attracted in a nonlinear medium. The MIT-Harvard Center for Ultracold Atoms conducted experiments in the 2010s. Single photons were fired from weak lasers into a dense cloud of

rubidium Rubidium is the chemical element with the symbol Rb and atomic number 37. It is a very soft, whitish-grey solid in the alkali metal group, similar to potassium and caesium. Rubidium is the first alkali metal in the group to have a density higher ...

cooled to near

absolute zero Absolute zero is the lowest limit of the thermodynamic temperature scale, a state at which the enthalpy and entropy of a cooled ideal gas reach their minimum value, taken as zero kelvin. The fundamental particles of nature have minimum vibration ...

. The speed of light in the cloud was about 100,000 times slower than in a vacuum. Within the cloud, photons lost energy and gained mass. The conditions allowed photons to attract and bind to other photons, and exit the cloud as molecules. Reportedly, photon pairs were observed in 2013, and triplets in 2018.

Fiction

Solid light appears in many video game franchises, including '' Halo'', '' Portal'', '' Destiny'' and '' Overwatch''. In Portal 2 sunlight is used to create ''hard light bridges'', which act as solid semi-translucent walkways or barriers. In Overwatch a fictional company called Vishkar uses solid light to create cities and make bridges, turrets, portals, shield generators, barriers and weaponry. Solid holograms appear in many works in the ''

Star Trek ''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the eponymous 1960s television series and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has expanded into vari ...

'' media franchise. In "

Red Dwarf ''Red Dwarf'' is a British science fiction comedy franchise created by Rob Grant and Doug Naylor, which primarily consists of a television sitcom that aired on BBC Two between 1988 and 1999, and on Dave since 2009, gaining a cult following. T ...

", the character Rimmer is a hologram who obtains a hard light drive, allowing him to touch and feel while being almost indestructible. In '' Steven Universe'', the Gems are a fictional alien race consisting of magical

gemstone A gemstone (also called a fine gem, jewel, precious stone, or semiprecious stone) is a piece of mineral crystal which, in cut and polished form, is used to make jewelry or other adornments. However, certain rocks (such as lapis lazuli, opal, ...

s that project humanoid physical bodies made of solid light. In the webseries '' RWBY'', the character Velvet Scarlatina uses a handheld camera to 3D print photographed weapons, made out of hard-light Dust. In DC Comics's '' Green Lantern'', the various Lantern Corps use solid light constructs. It is also portrayed in ''The Lightbringer'' series by fantasy author Brent Weeks , in '' Ms. Marvel'' and in ''

Dr. Strange Doctor Stephen Strange is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Steve Ditko, the character first appeared in ''Strange Tales'' #110 (cover-dated July 1963). Doctor Strange serves as Sorce ...

''.

References

{{Reflist Fictional materials Light Photonics Quantum optics Phase transitions

Experiments

Fiction

See also

References