Can light beams be made to curve? Not possibly by obeying the laws of nature, but an optical trick can fool our eyes into believing that light rays can actually be bended. It is believed that light beams while passing through a black hole in which the strong gravitational field has developed by the collapsed mass of the dead star can warp time and space causing any ray of light to be twisted when entering the black hole. This is only a theoretically possible method of bending the light beam. In reality, researchers at the University of Central Florida have used a LCD screen to make the light beam appear twisted to human eye.
The liquid crystal screen through which a beam of half-inch-wide laser rays were made to pass, caused the rays of the laser beam to interfere with each other in such a way that the brightest part of the beam appeared to move in a curved path.
The new technology by which light beams could be bended would help in telecommunications and development of advanced microscopes.
Source & image:msnbc
Comments
We’ve always believed that light travels in the universe in a straight trajectory. However, this statement isn’t entirely true. Albert Einstein predicted through his Theory of Relativity, that in fact light passing through a curved area of space would be slightly bent.
This process usually takes place due to powerful gravitational fields produced by massive bodies, such as stars, and black hole, or a huge accumulation of mass, like a galaxy for example. The special configuration of the LCD screen causes the light to travel through it and to bend in the brightest area of the beam, as light interferes with itself.
Light bending techniques are very innovative. This technology should be optimally explored to develop new communication mediums, advances in microscopes, and like you said probably could trigger a new digital age. Its amazing how technologically advanced our world has become!