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For reference it looks like the uniqueness here is they are using lasers (photons) for electron-positron pair production. Particle colliders like LHC and it's
by xref 8y ago
For reference it looks like the uniqueness here is they are using lasers (photons) for electron-positron pair production.
Particle colliders like LHC and it's progenitors all create matter as a fundamental part of their operation, but I guess they're classifying that as "energy" to matter not "light" to matter.
- danharaj 8y agoMatter to matter, actually. LHC shoots protons and antiprotons at each other, also it can shoot heavy nuclei and anti-nuclei at each other. Other types of colliders can also use electrons and positrons. https://home.cern/about/updates/2018/07/lhc-accelerates-its-first-atoms https://home.cern/about/updates/2018/07/lhc-accelerates-its-...
- InclinedPlane 8y agoThe uniqueness isn't just that they are using lasers (that's been done) but that they are using only lasers. There are many different ways you can get pair production from high energy photons, one of the easiest is via an interaction with a charged massive particle (such as an electron, proton, or atomic nucleus). But it's also possible for pair production to be a purely photon only process (just as the reverse process of annihilation producing only photons is possible), however that is a lot more difficult to pull off experimentally.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]