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Self Caricature...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on February 21, 2015 at 9:30am
Image source: [4] below


Topics: Commentary, Disrespect, Dog Whistle Politics, President


To the (never-once) honorable former Mayor Rudy Giuliani:

The legacy of your reign of terror in New York is evident in the malcontent police and their disrespect for your current successor. If Europeans abroad, as you've said, lament the racism of New York City's police force, perhaps supporting the cavalier and violent enforcement of "broken windows" (an ironic analogy of the movie "Minority Report") is a reason why.

CNN has opined your fall as America's Mayor; you've deemed yourself non-racist because you share the same culture as the president's deceased mother. Your excuse was amateurish; sophomoric. Perhaps before you cast stones at glass houses, you should patch up the damages in your own.

“I do not believe, and I know this is a horrible thing to say, but I do not believe that the president loves America,” Mr. Giuliani said at the event. “He doesn’t love you. And he doesn’t love me. He wasn’t brought up the way you were brought up and I was brought up, through love of this country.”

1. 300,000,000+ Americans and their various demarcations: African, African American, Asian, European, Hindi, Hispanic, Muslim, Sikh...were not brought up the way either you or I, or anyone else were brought up with respect to each other. This is the meaning of diversity, and a refute of the "melting pot" we tout so often in our ideals we seem never capable of living up to. At the base of the Statue of Liberty is the poem "New Colossus" by Emma Lazarus. Midway it says:

A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles.

You would do well sir, if you've ever read these words, to read them again in their entirety.


2. Neither your son or daughter wanted anything to do with your campaign in 2008. Perhaps it was the callous way you treated their mother as you romanced your mistress (who became your third wife, and presumably First Lady had you won the presidency).

3. "The rebellious daughter of former law-and-order Mayor Rudolph Giuliani was busted today for allegedly stealing makeup from an upscale beauty and skin care shop near her Upper East Side home, officials said.

"Cops said Caroline Giuliani, 20, a student at Harvard University, was arrested after security cameras caugh her stuffing makeup into her jacket pocket at a Sephora store at E. 86th Street and Lexinton Avenue shortly before 2 p.m." The New York Post used to be kinder to you.

4. An entire page is devoted to you, generated in the background of the aforementioned 2008 campaign, detailing your father and uncle's ties to the mob; your sexual and marital improprieties; the corruption in your administration and the source of the photo above.

So I conclude and say again: Perhaps before you cast stones at glass houses, you should patch up the damages in your own.

You are a sad caricature, a fallen icon, self-deluded in your own importance. If you had a career beyond mayor of New York City - a "noun, a verb and 9-11" (Vice President Joe Biden), it is now hopelessly gone, lost in the seams of your drag queen dress. Your only audience that you now soak callously and annually for million dollar speaking engagements are the declining rabid, toothless canines you dog whistle to.
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Cover art & design for 'Black Dog Short Stories' by Rachel Neumeier (@RachelNeumeier)

Posted by Aidana WillowRaven on February 20, 2015 at 2:21pm

I am really enjoying working with author, Rachel Neumeier. This is our second project together, and we're already planning one other, Pure Magic. Rachel is a hybrid-author, publishing books through both traditional houses and indie formats; and she's not the only author I work with following this trend.

For the cover of Black Dog Short Stories, which is a soon-to-be available companion publication to her Black Dog novel, published through Strange Chemistry, we chose a hypothetical scene from one of the four short stories contained within.

Blurb:

Natividad is delighted when the Master of Dimilioc gives her permission to go Christmas shopping in a real town, since she definitely needs to find gifts for her brothers. But did Grayson have to assign Keziah to go with her?

Étienne Lumondiere has annoyed Miguel once too often, throwing his weight around and belittling ordinary humans. But Miguel’s going to fix that. He just needs to work out a few more details of his clever plan.

It’s tough for a black dog raised outside Dimilioc to adjust to being a team player. But Thaddeus is determined to impress Grayson . . . until he is unexpectedly confronted by a black dog kid who reminds him a little too much of himself.

The Dimilioc executioner is the mainstay of the Master’s authority, as Ezekiel knows better than anyone. He has never questioned his role in Dimilioc . . . until now.

“Christmas Shopping,” “Library Work,” and “A Learning Experience” all take place between Black Dog and Pure Magic. “The Master of Dimilioc” is a prequel story that takes place several years before the events of Black Dog.


Be sure to visit Rachel's website and follow her on Twitter. :D



Onto wrapping up the next book :-D


Until next time ...


This post edited by Grammarly*


*Blurbs and quotes provided are not edited by WillowRaven, but posted as provided by author/publisher. 


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Dr. William M. Jackson...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on February 20, 2015 at 7:48am
Image Source: History Makers [link below]


Topics: Astrophysics, Astrochemistry, Lasers, Mentoring, Photochemistry, Research


Chemist and academic administrator William M. Jackson was born on September 24, 1936 in Birmingham, Alabama. He received his B.S. and Ph.D. degrees in chemistry from Morehouse College in 1956 and Catholic University of America, CUA in 1961, respectively. His expertise is in photochemistry, lasers chemistry, and astrochemistry.

Jackson has been a research scientist in industry at Martin Co (now Lockheed-Martin) and the government at the National Bureau of Standards (now the National Institute of Standards and Technology) and NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). He has been an academician at the University of Pittsburgh (1969-1970), Howard University (1974-1985), and the University of California, Davis (UCD). He joined the faculty at UCD as a chemistry professor in 1985. He then became a distinguished professor in 1998, and chair of the chemistry department from 2000 to 2005. He was awarded millions of dollars in research and education grants and has taught and mentored under representative minority students at Howard University and UCD. Under his direction, the minority student population of the UCD chemistry graduate students increased. He continues to do research, as well as, recruiting and mentoring minority students in chemistry, even though he is officially retired.

History Makers: William M. Jackson, PhD

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NuSTAR...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on February 20, 2015 at 7:43am


Supermassive black holes at the cores of galaxies blast out radiation and ultra-fast winds, as illustrated in this artist's conception. NASA's NuSTAR and ESA's XMM-Newton telescopes show that these winds, containing highly ionized atoms, blow in a nearly spherical fashion. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Topics: Black Holes, Einstein, General Relativity, NASA, Space Exploration


NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) and ESA’s (European Space Agency) XMM-Newton telescope are showing that fierce winds from a supermassive black hole blow outward in all directions -- a phenomenon that had been suspected, but difficult to prove until now.

This discovery has given astronomers their first opportunity to measure the strength of these ultra-fast winds and prove they are powerful enough to inhibit the host galaxy’s ability to make new stars.

"We know black holes in the centers of galaxies can feed on matter, and this process can produce winds. This is thought to regulate the growth of the galaxies," said Fiona Harrison of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in Pasadena, California. Harrison is the principal investigator of NuSTAR and a co-author on a new paper about these results appearing in the journal Science. "Knowing the speed, shape and size of the winds, we can now figure out how powerful they are."

Supermassive black holes blast matter into their host galaxies, with X-ray-emitting winds traveling at up to one-third the speed of light. In the new study, astronomers determined PDS 456, an extremely bright black hole known as a quasar more than 2 billion light-years away, sustains winds that carry more energy every second than is emitted by more than a trillion suns.

NASA: NASA, ESA Telescopes Give Shape to Furious Black Hole Winds

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Black Superheroes Re-imagined in Movie Posters by Digital Artist

Posted by LN Gibson on February 19, 2015 at 10:59am

Source: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2015/02/prweb12525243.htm

I was combing the web when I stumbled upon this article about an artist who was re-creating Superhero movie posters into African-American Superheroes. The talented digital artist is African-American and seems to have promise. The concept is great and the artwork is beautiful. I would like to see actual movies with these types of characters made. We need to be control of our imagine and represent ourselves in the media more.

Check out more graphics from this artist here: http://alijahvillian.com/portfolio/black-superheroes-reimagined-pt-2

What do you think about this artist's work?

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Speculative Futures #8...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on February 19, 2015 at 7:47am


Topics: Diaspora, Speculative Fiction


Dumisai And The Covenant Of The Ancestors
by Christopher R. Obie

Dumisai, a first-generation American child born of African immigrants, discovers that he has been chosen to wield an awesome power. He soon realizes however, that with his new-found power comes a tremendous responsibility. If he is to keep this power known as the Gift of Great Consequence, he must use it for the betterment of the world. In his search to understand the meaning of the Gift, Dumisai is told by the village elders that he represents the fulfillment of an ancient prophecy and has been chosen to help rescue the world from its deliberate path toward disaster.

More at:
http://blacksciencefictionsociety.com/page/book-of-the-month
Amazon: Dumisai And The Covenant Of The Ancestors. by Christopher R. Obie

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Rise of the Taikonauts...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on February 19, 2015 at 7:44am
Image Source: http://aragec.com/taikonauts.html


Topics: Astronaut, China, Economy, NASA, Space Program, STEM, Taikonaut


(Reuters) - China's space program is catching up with that of the United States and Washington must invest in military and civilian programs if it is to remain the world's dominant space power, a congressional hearing heard on Wednesday.

Experts speaking to Congress's U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission said China's fast advances in military and civilian space technology were part of a long-term strategy to shape the international geopolitical system to its interests and achieve strategic dominance in the Asia-Pacific.

They also reflect an enthusiasm for space exploration which in the United States has faded since the Apollo Program which landed Americans on the moon in 1969, they said.

"China right now is experiencing its Apollo years," Joan Johnson-Freese, a professor at the U.S. Naval War College, told the hearing. "China gets the funding its needs."

Meanwhile (literally, "back at the ranch")...

Slate: Texas Public Schools Are Teaching Creationism
An investigation into charter schools’ dishonest and unconstitutional science, history, and “values” lessons.
Zack Kopplin

Scientific American: 15 Answers to Creationist Nonsense
Opponents of evolution want to make a place for creationism by tearing down real science, but their arguments don't hold up
John Rennie


For clarification: I am very happy China has the clarity and sense of mission to expand their knowledge of STEM fields, thus their economy and cultivate a pool of candidates for their expanding space program. That, like the Apollo program, will have spin off dividends in their economy.

I only say this tongue-in-cheek because Texas is not only a big state: it's a big education book market affecting the buying decisions and curriculum outside their borders, and so the nations'. Thus, other states are taking their lead in the curriculum - charter or public - they decide to expose their students to. China is apparently disabused of such illusions. Sadly...

KING HENRY V:
Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more;
Or close the wall up with our English dead.
In peace there's nothing so becomes a man
As modest stillness and humility:
But when the blast of war blows in our ears,
Then imitate the action of the tiger;
Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood,
Disguise fair nature with hard-favour'd rage;...

'Cry God for Harry, England, and Saint George!' speech of Shakespeare's Henry V, Act III, 1598.


Meaning: let's try this one more time (see link).
Though, we seem to be trying and doing, over and over, all the wrong things!
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Dr. Estella Atekwana...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on February 18, 2015 at 8:31am
Image Source: Oklahoma State University Faculty Page [2] 


Topics: Biogeophysics, Geophysics, Research, Tectonics, Women in Science

Estella Atekwana, PhD
Geophysicist
Oklahoma State University


Estella Atekwana grew up in Cameroon. “My parents very much wanted me to do medicine,” she writes. “So I got into sciences with that intention. However, I took a course in geology in high school and the teacher indicated that geology was not for girls. I was challenged then to demonstrate that girls could do geology and perform the same as boys or even better. I ended up with the science award that year in chemistry, biology, and geology.” She moved to North America to study the geosciences, earning a bachelor’s and master’s in geology from Howard University and a Ph.D. from Dalhousie University in Canada. “Today, they call me Doctor and that’s fine with my parents.”

She is now Sun Chair at Oklahoma State University, where she is a leader in the new field of biogeophysics. [1]

1. Science Update: Estella Atekwana, PhD
2. Oklahoma State University: Estella Atekwana Faculty Page

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Quantum Random Walks...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on February 18, 2015 at 8:27am


In the experimental test by Robens et al., the caesium atom moves in one of two possible optical fields, here indicated in red and blue. The fields have a periodic "egg-carton"-like potential. The authors prepared the atom in a superposition of two atomic states, which was equivalent to the atom simultaneously sitting in the red optical carton and the blue optical carton, and determined the atom's position by detecting its fluorescence as the two cartons were slid apart. (Courtesy: Phys. Rev. X 5 011003)

Topics: Cesium, Macrorealism, Quantum Mechanics, Quantum Random Walks, Quantum Superposition, Superposition

Is there a limit on how large a quantum superposition can be or can macroscopic objects, such as humans or say cats, also exist in a superposition of quantum states? Our daily experience seems to suggest that large objects do not obey the rules of quantum mechanics and are said to behave classically. This suggests that there could be a fundamental boundary between the quantum and classical worlds.

To try and nail down exactly where this boundary lies, researchers in Germany have tracked the motion of a large atom in an optical lattice. They found that the atom moves in a non-classical way, behaving as a quantum superposition that occupies more than one location at any given time.

Boundary conditions


Probing the classical–quantum boundary is currently of great interest to physicists, with a variety of different experiments trying to work out where such a cut-off may lie. Indeed, in the past few years, physicists have been placing ever-larger objects into states of quantum superposition. These are often interference experiments, whereby large molecules are sent through a double slit and made to interfere with themselves.

But in 1985 Anthony Leggett and Anupam Garg took a decidedly different approach to the quest by developing a theory known as "macrorealism". Instead of showing that quantum theory holds, they aimed to show that anything apart from a quantum description would disagree with experimental observations. In explicit contrast with quantum theory, the theorists posited that in the worldview of macroscopic realism, large objects must be in one determinate macroscopic state at any given time, allowing for no superposition or blurriness in the system. Macrorealism has two main criteria: that macroscopic superpositions are not allowed and that it is possible to make a measurement of the system without influencing the system in any way, meaning that you can always measure, say, the location of a large object without disturbing it.

If macrorealism were true, repeated measurements, at different times, of a single macroscopic system would only be statistically correlated up to a certain degree, giving what they called the Leggett–Garg (LG) inequality. The aim then was to violate the inequality with experimental evidence. This is similar to the Bell inequalities, which set out to show that another basic quantum effect, known as entanglement, is indeed possible. The difference is that for Bell's inequalities, the measurements are made at different points in space, while for the LG inequality, the experiments take place at different times. Over the years, a number of experiments on photons, nuclear spins and superconducting circuits have been carried out to violate the LG inequality.

Physics World: Quantum random walks put a limit on superposition
Tushna Commissariat is a reporter for physicsworld.com
Quantum random walks - an introductory overview, Julia Kempe

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From where does the future come?

Posted by Arnold L. Johnson on February 17, 2015 at 2:30pm

Every day I live in my thoughts and compare them with the thoughts of others I see on TV and movies and Internet and people I live with and people I know and people I don't. Where does the future come from. Why do I crave for things not realized yet and set myself as a critic of all that pass before my desire. No, that is not the future, I say and yet again can not define what I mean by future.

It is not the next instance in time I crave. The next breath or next incident in time will come even if I am expired. Where is that higher mind and the associated objects. What good is vehicle powered by starlight if it is a conquest of ego, or a reward or status over one whose heart is true and drives an ox cart. Does shoes make the feet more blessed if the logo on them is backed by the multimedia campaign of a multimillion dollar conglomerate? The future is an equation of elevated souls and material things not at the expense of ones not so elevated. Perhaps we shall all arrive at some epiphany due to cosmic light called angels or god in the ancient vernacular. Super novas explode in the pre-dawn and visionaries tract the light across centuries. They write down what it might mean, the ideas come too fast, they encapsulate it in dreams, fairy tales, legends, myths, rhymes.

When the light reaches us all will be revealed, they say. In the mean time we build and destroy civilizations based on misinterpreted symbols, conjecture, power, greed, tradition. Teachers transcribe one myth with a literal history or bury truth by effacing. Souls die before bodies, walking dead trample the earth searching for brains to eat. Minds to eat. Like cattle for slaughter. Like humans lowered to the rank of animals.

There are no minds without brains, none. No brains that work without a consciousness inside effected by the push and pull of cosmic forces and microcosm forces. Nature is the villain, you hate and despise nature, call it names: tree, sky, dog, deer, imperfection of family trait. You never look inside of yourself. Don't go in there, there's demons and darkness, fear and God's awful lies. Yet under all the muck taught to us and we have heaped upon the corner, is a spark so feeble and weak from our own ignorance, lies the future. 

The spark in the corner is often passed on to the next generation unrealized by the present generation. We simply adore the covering mess we've accumulated or are consumed by fear from others. Don't go in there, have faith, it will come out on it's own, sweet by and by. A supernova has exploded in the corner of our universe. It was us being made conscious. It's light travels across the expanse desiring to be realized in our understanding and reality. Often by the time it reaches us, we are counting our breaths no longer caring wither or the next generation will get it.

Hey God I'm ready to do it again! What did you do with the last bang I gave you! Don't know, forget! You know if you nail it you'll retain it on the next go around, rumour has it. Oh, God has rumours now? I speak in parables, they tend not to change for eons. I hate repeating myself so I embed everything in patterns, rhythms, cycles, the variations are endless yet the modes are the same. I fashioned you to pick up on it, give you signs, intuition, reason. You will forget and come up with all kinds of funny stuff on your own, but I will leave the spark in side you. If you find it, I'll see you on the flip side. If not we'll do this again till you do. duh! Here's your spark, try not to bury it this time. Later G...........wah, wah, wah!   Damn, should have sent backup! Hey Star, when he comes to the age of reason send him light so he'll remember to look where I told him. Dang that sweet by and by, I wish I never said that!

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Speculative Futures #7...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on February 17, 2015 at 8:19am


Topics: Afrofuturism, Diaspora, Diversity, Diversity in Science, Speculative Fiction

Afrofuturism: The World of Black Sci-Fi and Fantasy Culture
By YTASHA L. WOMACK


In this hip, accessible primer to the music, literature, and art of Afrofuturism, author Ytasha Womack introduces readers to the burgeoning community of artists creating Afrofuturist works, the innovators from the past, and the wide range of subjects they explore. From the sci-fi literature of Samuel Delany, Octavia Butler, and N. K. Jemisin to the musical cosmos of Sun Ra, George Clinton, and the Black Eyed Peas’ will.i.am, to the visual and multimedia artists inspired by African Dogon myths and Egyptian deities, the book’s topics range from the “alien” experience of blacks in America to the “wake up” cry that peppers sci-fi literature, sermons, and activism. With a twofold aim to entertain and enlighten, Afrofuturists strive to break down racial, ethnic, and social limitations to empower and free individuals to be themselves.

More at: http://blacksciencefictionsociety.com/page/book-of-the-month
Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/Afrofuturism-World-Sci-Fi-Fantasy-Culture/dp/1613747969

"The Day We Surrender to the Air" by Antonio Jose Guzman

An article that appears on io9.com by Jess Nevins, 9/27/12. I include a link below to a remarkable, mentioned and available book "Light Ahead for the Negro," by Edward A. Johnson

Africans, and those of African descent, have not been treated well by speculative fiction, both inside its texts and in real life. Anti-African racism is a fact of life in Western culture, and was even more pronounced before 1945. Not surprisingly, the number of works of speculative fiction written by black writers is low. But that number is not zero, and it's worth taking a look at the fantasy and science fiction stories that black writers produced before 1945.

Top image: "The Day We Surrender to the Air" by Antonio Jose Guzman

io9.com The Black Fantastic, Jess Nevins

Light Ahead for the Negro, Edward A. Johnson

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But a Whimper...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on February 17, 2015 at 8:15am
Image Source: Technology Review


Topics: Ebola, Biology, Mathematical Models, R0 ("r naught"), Research, STEM


This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper.

The last, easily remembered and often quoted stanza of T.S. Elliot's poem "The Hollow Men." It bears reading (link provided) in light of current events.

A simple search on this site for Ebola will likely now bring up this article and others written during the faux panic. Due to the "medical expertise" of now infamous anti-vaccination activists (who have been previously mentioned), measles has made a resurgence, and if not shut down, at least exacerbated the profits of the Magic Kingdom.

Presented here is what will likely not make the local or national news with exception of braver souls that take their duty to inform (not entertain) the citizenry seriously over the altar sacrifice to the Moloch of Nielsen:

TECHNOLOGY REVIEW: On March 17, 2014, doctors diagnosed a single case of Ebola in the county of Lofa in Liberia, West Africa. This was the first, patient zero, in an epidemic that has so far infected more than 20,000 people and killed almost 8000.

On August 15, the World Health Organization and other bodies began a major drive in Liberia to halt the epidemic. The strategy has two parts. The first aims to limit the spread of the disease from people who have been infected by ensuring that everyone with symptoms goes to an official treatment center.

The second is to prevent the spread of the disease after death by ensuring that every Ebola victim is buried in a way that prevents further infection. That means wearing protective clothing to place the body in a body bag and then in a coffin before transporting it to a grave. Finally, the aid workers must disinfect the victim’s home and ensure appropriate washing for all those involved in the disposal of the body.

Together, these measures appear to have had a significant effect on the spread of the disease. But an important question remains: when will the epidemic end?

Today, we get an answer thanks to the work of Lucas Valdez from the National University of Mar del Plata in Argentina and a few pals. These guys have created a mathematical model of the way the disease spreads that predicts an end to the epidemic for the first time.

Abstract


The Ebola virus is spreading throughout West Africa, causing thousands of deaths. When developing strategies to slow or halt the epidemic, mathematical models that reproduce the spread of this virus are essential for understanding which variables are relevant. We study the propagation of the Ebola virus through Liberia by using a model in which people travel from one county to another in order to quantify the effectiveness of different strategies. For the initial months in which the Ebola virus spreads, we find that the arrival times of the disease into the counties predicted by our model are in good agreement with World Health Organization data. We also find that reducing mobility delays the arrival of Ebola virus in each county by only a few weeks, and as a consequence, is insufficient to contain the epidemic. Finally we study the effect of a strategy focused on increasing safe burials and hospitalization under two scenarios: (i) one implemented in mid-July 2014 and (ii) one in mid-August, which was the actual time that strong interventions began in Liberia. We find that if scenario (i) had been pursued the lifetime of the epidemic would have been reduced by three months and the total number of infected individuals reduced by 80\%, when compared to scenario (ii). Our projection under scenario (ii) is that the spreading will cease by mid-spring 2015.

Physics arXiv: Predicting the extinction of Ebola spreading in Liberia due to mitigation strategies
L. D. Valdez, H. H. A. Rêgo, H. E. Stanley, L. A. Braunstein

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How Naps Do Your Brain (And Body) Good

Posted by William Hayashi on February 16, 2015 at 3:03pm

Running seriously low on sleep? A nap can not only make you feel better, but can reverse the effects of poor sleep by restoring hormones and proteins involved in stress and immune health.

The fact that poor sleep can increase stress levels and suppress immune system activity is well-established. But according to a new small study, napping can be an effective antidote by creating measurable hormone changes.

Click here for the full story

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Dr. Patricia Bath...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on February 16, 2015 at 8:46am
Image Source: Link belo

Topics: Diaspora, Diversity, Diversity in Science, Inventor, Ophthalmology, Patents, Women in Science

Patricia Era Bath (born November 4, 1942, Harlem, Manhattan, NY) is an American ophthalmologist, inventor and academic. She has broken ground for women and African Americans in a number of areas. Prior to Bath, no woman had served on the staff of the Jules Stein Eye Institute, headed a post-graduate training program in ophthalmology, or been elected to the honorary staff of the UCLA Medical Center (an honor bestowed on her after her retirement). Before Bath, no black person had served as a resident in ophthalmology at New York University and no black woman had ever served on staff as a surgeon at the UCLA Medical Center. Bath is the first African-American woman doctor to receive a patent for a medical purpose. Her Laserphaco Probe is used to treat cataracts. The holder of four patents, she is also the founder of the American Institute for the Prevention of Blindness in Washington, D.C.

Source: Dr. Patricia Bath, Wikipedia

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Cooling Light...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on February 16, 2015 at 8:40am


Schematic of the Michelson–Sagnac interferometer used in the cooling experiment. Laser light enters from the left and is split into two beams that make their way round a triangular path and create an optical cavity. The mirror to be cooled is the square object that breaks the beams in the middle of the cavity. The output port is at the bottom of diagram where the light encounters a signal-recycling mirror before travelling to a detector (not shown). (Courtesy: Andreas Sawadsky and Roman Schnabel/Leibniz University of Hannover)

Topics: Laser, Modern Physics, Optics, Quantum Computer, Quantum Mechanics


A new technique for cooling a macroscopic object with laser light has been demonstrated by a team of physicists in Germany and Russia. Making clever use of the noise in an optical cavity, which normally heats an object up, the technique could lead to the development of "stable optical springs" that would boost the sensitivity of gravitational-wave detectors. It could also be used to create large quantum-mechanical oscillators for studying the quantum properties of macroscopic objects or to create components for quantum computers.

Physicists already have ways of cooling tiny mirrors by placing them in an optical cavity containing laser light. When the mirror is warm, it vibrates – creating a series of "sidebands" that resonate with light at certain frequencies. The first lower sideband has a frequency equal to the difference between the resonant frequency of the cavity and the vibrational frequency of the mirror. So when a photon at that frequency enters the cavity, it can be absorbed and re-emitted with an extra quantum of vibrational energy. As a result of this "dispersive coupling" process, the mirror cools because energy from it is removed.

Dispersive coupling works best when the bandwidth of the cavity is much smaller than the vibrational frequency of the mirror. This is possible for relatively small mirrors with vibrational frequencies in the hundreds of megahertz. However, for more massive mirrors with vibrational frequencies in the hundreds of kilohertz, optical cavities with sufficiently narrow bandwidths are simply not available.

Physics World:
Physicists reveal new way of cooling large objects with light
Hamish Johnston, editor of physicsworld.com

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