Experiment proposed to create matter from light

Guardian : First predicted in 1934 by Gregory Breit and John Wheeler, the conversion of light into subatomic particles of matter may soon be demonstrated. Steven Rose of Imperial College London and colleagues, writing in Nature Photonics, propose a way to squeeze enough high-energy photons into a small enough volume that some will collide and create an electron and its antimatter equivalent, a positron. A beam of high-energy electrons is fired at a solid gold target to create a gamma-ray photon beam. Then a high-energy laser is fired into a hohlraum to create a thermal radiation field as bright as starlight. Finally, the gamma-ray photon beam is directed through the hohlraum, where the two photon sources collide, creating as many as 100 000 electron–positron pairs. Because the equipment to carry out such a demonstration already exists, the researchers hope to produce the photon–photon collider within the year. Such a device would help further understanding of fundamental physics and subatomic particles.