Scientists of the Imperial College of London have discovered a way to prove an 80 year-old theory that light can be materialized, thus recreating part of the first moments of the universe.

The theory, known as the Breit-Wheeler theory, was first published in 1934 and stipulated that it was possible for light to transform into matter. Though the researchers at the time are reported to never to have thought a practical means of doing so was possible.

Like Us on Facebook

On Sunday, a new study published in Nature Photonics showed that scientist Oliver Pike and his colleagues at Imperial College did just that and found a practical way to prove the theory over an afternoon.

This experiment would effectively recreate a process that took place in the first 100 seconds of the history of the universe, where matter was first created partly by what is believed to have been a similar process.

The proposed experiment is deceptively simple: Simply by accelerating and smashing together particles of light, also known as photons, the researchers believe they can create two of the elementary particles found within atoms - electrons and positrons. Thus giving light a corporeal physical form beyond energy.

First, the scientists would use an extremely powerful high-intensity laser to "excite" and speed up electrons to nearly the speed of light. Then they would fire the electrons at a bar of gold to create a beam of photons far more energetic than visible light - so called "gamma rays".

Then by passing a jet of the gamma ray photons through a fuel container filled with hydrogen, also heated by a laser to generate high-energy photons, the report claims the experiment can generate enough photon collisions to generate 100,000 particles.

The dedicated two-stage machine required for this experiment would be known as a photon-photon collider.

Ultra high-energy light such as gamma rays are considered highly dangerous for human beings, but also constitute the spectrum of light with the most highly charged photons suitable for experimentation.

This experiment is said to be able to be conducted with already pre-existing scientific equipment, though large-scale and expensive, and Pike hopes that we may see materialized light within a year.

The researchers came upon the solution by accident, while debating an unrelated issue of fusion energy, when an unnamed fellow theoretical physicist of the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics visited the Imperial College and assisted in the breakthrough.

Light, not restricted to light generated by direct light sources, surrounds us and it is the reflection of light in different wavelengths that appear to us as the color and texture of an object.

Despite centuries of research into the subject, the exact nature of light remains debated and can appear to be a confusing topic for a layman. Physicists today consider light to consist of both particles of energy, and waves of electromagnetic radiation similar to radio waves.

To simplify this thought, physicist Albert Einstein proposed one imagine light as containing bundles, or "lumps" of energy carried by the wave. Light is transported through the air as a wave yet collapse into a single point, or bundle, of energy when the wave hits a surface. These bundles are known as photons and the particle theory as the quantum theory of light.

Photons, thereby light, can be generated within the atoms of any kind of substance or material. Inside each atom, electron particles circle the core in fixed paths. When an atom is energized, the electrons may jump to a different orbit, emitting a photon in the process.

As such, light is a product of matter plus energy. The findings of the researchers would mean a kind of reversal of the process, transforming photons back into the electrons that spawned them.

Much of the research behind photons and the dual nature of light have led to Nobel Prizes for the scientists involved in the discoveries and have changed the very way physicists view the laws of the universe. Whether this proposed experiment will result in further similar finds of equal importance remains to be seen, but given the prior difficulties in analysing light it is well within the realm of possibility.

The practical applications of this new find is uncertain as the specific conditions required by the process are impossible to reproduce outside of a highly specialized lab, but it could theoretically mean the creation of any kind of matter from light alone given further research.

TagsPhotons, Universe, Electrons, Positrons, Antimatter, Light, Matter, Imperial College of London, Big Bang, Gamma rays, laser, photon collider