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Researchers at the Advanced Science Research Center at the CUNY Graduate Center have made a significant discovery in the manipulation of photons. By using tailored metamaterials, they have found a way to make photons collide and interact with each other. This breakthrough has the potential to advance telecommunications, optical computing, and various energy applications.

The research team, led by Andrea Alù, built upon previous experiments that demonstrated time-reflections for electromagnetic waves. By creating metamaterials with abrupt time variations in their electromagnetic properties, they were able to manipulate wave propagation in unprecedented ways. This latest work showed that waves can collide as if they were massive objects, and the researchers could control whether the waves exchanged, gained, or lost energy during these collisions.

In conventional wave physics, electromagnetic waves typically pass through each other without interaction. However, by triggering a time interface using tailored metamaterials, the researchers were able to induce strong photon-photon interactions and control the nature of the collision. This concept was inspired by the idea of countering unwanted mechanical waves, such as tsunamis or seismic waves, by colliding them with similar waves.

The research team also demonstrated the application of their concept in shaping electromagnetic pulses by colliding them against each other. This technique allows for the sculpting of desired pulse structures using an additional signal as a mold. The team’s ongoing work aims to expand this sculpting ability to higher frequencies.

The ability to manipulate the interaction and shaping of electromagnetic waves could have a broad range of applications across wireless communications, imaging, computing, and energy harvesting technologies.

This discovery opens up new possibilities for technology breakthroughs by harnessing the power of photon interactions. With further development and refinement, these advancements could pave the way for more efficient and advanced systems in various fields.

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