How Can We See Light?

luminousness is tricky . You probably know that we experience “ light ” by seeing it bounce off something before being absorbed into our eyes . But what about light itself ? That ’s much tougher , since for see the Light Within , it has to be ingest . puzzle out for this little Catch 22won Serge Haroche the 2012 Nobel Prizein physics .

fundamentally , you need to build a super darkness , super cold boxful , where sometimes there ’s a photon of light , and sometimes there is n’t . The interior of the corner is coated with tiptop - reflective mirror . Then you charge through an atom in a “ tiptop status ” of two atomic states . That sounds complicated ( and it is ! ) , but just means that when it comes out on the other side it will look one room if there ’s a photon of luminosity in the box , and another way if there is n’t . And then , once you know if there ’s a photon of illumination in there , you’re able to do all kinds of experiment on it , before picking up your Nobel Prize . [ MinutePhysics ]

MinutePhysics