EurekAlert March 2, 2021
An international team of researchers (UK, Russia) has reported a way to create quasiparticles that bind together two differently coloured particles of light. They have named these formations photon-photon polaritons. They tuned a laser to the specific resonance frequency where a photon is expected to be absorbed, yet no resonance absorption happened. Instead, the photon-photon interaction made up two new resonance frequencies away from the old one. The microresonator provided a whole set of split resonances, where each photon-photon pair displayed its own momentum and energy, allowing the researchers to apply the quasiparticle concept and calculate mass. According to the researchers’ predictions, photon-photons are 1,000+ times lighter than electrons. The research has shown a similar opportunity in the optical range of frequencies. The small mass of photon-photons could lead to further developments of many important analogies between light and fluids…read more. Open Access TECHNICAL ARTICLE
Photon-photon polaritons in microresonators. Credit: University of Bath