In Einstein’s Footsteps and Beyond: Foundations of Quantum Mechanics

"Zero-index metamaterials offer new insights into the foundations of quantum mechanics.

In physics, as in life, it’s always good to look at things from different perspectives.

Since the dawn of quantum physics, how light moves and interacts with matter around it has been primarily described and understood mathematically through the lens of its energy. Max Planck used energy to explain how light is emitted by heated objects in 1900, a seminal study in the foundation of quantum mechanics. Albert Einstein used energy when he introduced the concept of the photon in 1905.

But light has another, equally important quality known as momentum. And, as it turns out, when you take momentum away, light starts behaving in really interesting ways.

An international team of physicists is re-examining the foundations of quantum physics from the perspective of momentum and exploring what happens when the momentum of light is reduced to zero. The researchers are led by Michaël Lobet, a research associate at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) and Eric Mazur, the Balkanski Professor of Physics and Applied Physics at SEAS.

The research was published in the journal Nature Light Science & Applications on April 25, 2022. " reports SciTechDaily.

By Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences 

Read more here / SciTechDaily