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back to article Light ties itself in knots - spontaneously

It’s not only possible to get light to tie itself in knots: given the right conditions, it will do so spontaneously, according to a paper published last week in Nature. El Reg has no possible hope of fully understanding this paper (published in full, an emerging trend we welcome), but one really interesting idea is right there …

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  1. stuartnz
    Thumb Up

    Will I be first?

    To throw in the appropriate HHGTTG reference - "In Relativity, Matter tells Space how to curve, and Space tells

    Matter how to move. The Heart of Gold told space to get knotted," since I don't have a whelk's chance in a supernova of understanding the science behind knotted light.

    15 0
    1. Esskay
      Reply Icon
      Coat

      But...

      What's a whelk got to do with a supernova?

      3 1
      1. Anonymous Coward
        Reply Icon
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: But...

        It doesn't stand a chance in one.

        11 0
        1. Anonymous Coward
          Reply Icon
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: But...

          ... and as it heads into the abyss will probably be thinking "Oh no, not again."

          5 0
        2. Steve Knox
          Reply Icon

          Re: But...

          So why a welk particularly?

          1 1
          1. Oolons
            Reply Icon
            Boffin

            Re: But...

            So why a whelk particularly? .... 42!

            3 0
          2. Nick Ryan Silver badge
            Reply Icon

            Re: But...

            So why a welk particularly?

            Because the use of butterflies and chaos is so last century?

            0 0
          3. Anonymous Coward
            Reply Icon
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: But...

            "So why a welk particularly?"

            It was named Lawrence...

            0 0
  2. Herby

    Explaination: Simple

    It is all done with mirrors.

    0 0
    1. Gavin King
      Reply Icon
      Coat

      Re: Explaination: Simple

      And smoke. Must remember the smoke.

      2 0
  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Well I'll be knotted

    I understand knot a word.

    4 0
  4. 6 inches long, handle.
    Happy

    RNG!

    "Our models suggest that you have to get the key parameters of the light in a certain range before you can easily tie the light in knots but once you do, the knots are virtually guaranteed … we can’t predict exactly where they will form."

    Light as random number generator! :)

    2 0
  5. Anonymous Coward
    Pint

    ST-TOS

    It's light Jim, but not as we know it.

    1 0
  6. logic

    VERY significant

    At the time of the "Big Bang" reality was radiation, EM and only EM. Then particles formed - like a condensate?

    This knot phenomena of light may have direct relevance to the nature and relationship of EM and matter. For what is matter but knots of EM (light). This could be a route to an understanding of a fundamental piece of physics.

    5 0
    1. Elmer Phud
      Reply Icon

      Re: VERY significant

      So, the Big Bang was when God fell flat on his/her/whatever face due to shoelaces knotted together?

      Which means the first sound was that of a cartoon pratfall.

      1 0
      1. Sir Runcible Spoon
        Reply Icon
        Joke

        Re: VERY significant

        "Which means the first sound was that of a cartoon pratfall."

        Quickly followed by a 'shit, me nose!'

        0 0
      2. Trygve Henriksen
        Reply Icon

        Re: VERY significant

        *Sigh*

        There was no 'big bang' at the beginning.

        First there was the counting...

        "one, two, three, four..."

        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religions_of_the_Discworld#The_Listening_Monks

        0 0
    2. Dan Paul
      Reply Icon
      Devil

      Re: VERY significant... Agreed, this helps to explain "Wavicles"

      Seems to have been quite a few people saying that light acts like a wave but also like a particle.

      The change in amplitude along the lengthwise axis accounts for the wave portion and the individual "knots" account for the particle portion.

      0 1
  7. John Pattenden
    Joke

    convoluted string theory?

    See title.

    2 0
  8. Mystic Megabyte
    Happy

    Far out

    "including superfluids and trapped matter waves.”

    So the inner regions of the Sun might be a Rose garden of luminous flowers.

    Not forgetting the luminous Gardener.

    Sorry but Tuesday is my day for shouting at pigeons.

    2 0
  9. Jon Double Nice

    LASER SHOELACES!

    thats what the article says to me

    2 0
  10. PeterM42
    Alert

    I have always believed.....

    ...as a target pistol shooter, that light does NOT travel in straight lines.

    Thank you scientists for proving me right. Now I have a scientific excuse for my poor shooting.

    2 0
  11. Efros
    Thumb Up

    Light Sabre

    At last!

    1 0
    1. Mister_C
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      Re: Light Sabre

      Sorry, light crochet hook is more likely

      1 0
  12. AlgernonFlowers4

    Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

    I once dreamt that I was an iBod device with a hard light projector connected to a cloud based server running a copy of my last brain dump. Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? Caught in a landslide, No escape from reality?

    1 0
    1. Sir Runcible Spoon
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      Re: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

      Open your eyes

      1 0
    2. Vic
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      Re: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

      > I once dreamt that I was an iBod device with a hard light projector

      Haven't we already got one AManFromMars ?

      Vic.

      0 0
      1. AlgernonFlowers4
        Reply Icon

        Re: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

        >Haven't we already got one AManFromMars?

        MenFromMars have advanced technology such as mobile hard knotted light holgramatic projectors, the Holly Hop drive, whereas MenFromEarth are still peeling their own potatoes with their metal knives, boiling them for twenty of their minutes, then smashing them all to bits!

        0 0
  13. Dan 55 Silver badge

    Slowly raises hand at the back of the class

    Sir, has this got anything to do with Young's double-slit experiment?

    2 0
    1. Sir Runcible Spoon
      Reply Icon
      Coat

      Re: Slowly raises hand at the back of the class

      Sir(i) has been banned from answering that question.

      2 0
      1. Stoneshop
        Reply Icon
        Coat

        Re: Slowly raises hand at the back of the class

        Sir(i) has been banned from answering that question.

        As far as I can tell, that only concerned single-slit "experiments".

        Although a triple-breasted whore might well have a double slit, who knows.

        3 0
        1. Sir Runcible Spoon
          Reply Icon

          Re: Slowly raises hand at the back of the class

          Thanks Stoneshop, there's a stack of labels over there that need labelling, in the drawer marked labels :)

          0 0
  14. Evil Auditor Silver badge

    Yes, but...

    ...can it knit the emperor's clothes?

    0 0
  15. skellious
    Go

    Utter rubberish!

    They've just taken photos of rubber bands! Admit it! You had an office rubber band fight and snapped the results!

    2 0
    1. Sir Runcible Spoon
      Reply Icon

      Re: Utter rubberish!

      +1 for the pun

      1 0
  16. Arachnoid
    Mushroom

    So does this mean that light is attracted to itself and it so does it affects more often in places like Brighton

    0 0
  17. David Pollard

    Ball lightning

    Might this hold a clue as to how the energy is stored when ball lightning occurs?

    0 0
  18. D@v3
    Thumb Up

    I FUCKING LOVE SCIENCE

    [that is all]

    2 0

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