Optical black hole

Optical black hole

An optical black hole is a phenomenon in which slow light is passed through a Bose-Einstein condensate that is itself spinning faster than the local speed of light within to create a vortex capable of trapping the light behind an event horizon just as a gravitational black hole would.

Unlike other black hole analogs such as a sonic black hole in a Bose-Einstein condensate, a slow light black hole analog is not expected to mimic the quantum effects of a black hole, and thus not emit Hawking radiation. It does, however, mimic the classical properties of a gravitational black hole, making it potentially useful in studying other properties of black holes.[1] More recently, some physicists have developed a fiber optic based system which they believe will emit Hawking radiation.[2]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ W.G. Unruh and R. Schützhold, "On Slow Light as a Black Hole Analogue," Phys. Rev. D 68, 024008 arXiv:gr-qc/0303028v2 (2003).
  2. ^ T. G. Philbin et al., Science 319, 1367 arXiv:0711.4796v2 [gr-qc] (2008)