Black Holes Made of Light

Professor Ulf Leonhardt and Dr Friedrich König used intense light pulses to create an artificial `event horizon’ - the defining feature of a black hole known as `the point of no return’. The development may allow researchers to test Professor Stephen Hawking’s theory that black holes are not black at all but in fact radiate light.

It is the first time that scientists have successfully simulated an event horizon using light. There is no danger however of the scientists being sucked into deep space by an intense pull of gravity, since the tabletop device only acts on light in optical fibres and is perfectly harmless.

I really don’t understand it yet. Here is an explanaton from the author. Worth reading.

The nanolaser can focus light with a power of over 200 nW into a spot just 35 nm across. The result suggests that data storage beyond 10 Tbit per square inch could be possible at last.

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