trancelikestate Posted July 28, 2009 #1 Share Posted July 28, 2009 PhysOrg.com) -- Oxford scientists have created a transparent form of aluminium by bombarding the metal with the world’s most powerful soft X-ray laser. 'Transparent aluminium' previously only existed in science fiction, featuring in the movie Star Trek IV, but the real material is an exotic new state of matter with implications for planetary science and nuclear fusion.Ads by Google Ultra Bright LED Products - Highest Power Density Superior Uniformity, UV to IR - www.innovationsinoptics.com Diffractive light - Into the desired light shapes from DOE optical manufacturer IMOS - www.imos-gubela. Read more... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRUEYOUTRUEME Posted July 28, 2009 #2 Share Posted July 28, 2009 This is very cool! From the article: Whilst the invisible effect lasted for only an extremely brief period - an estimated 40 femtoseconds - it demonstrates that such an exotic state of matter can be created using very high power X-ray sources. So I guess we may not be getting to see invisible aluminium any time soon but the entire article is very interesting. Thanks for sharing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DieChecker Posted July 28, 2009 #3 Share Posted July 28, 2009 From the link in the OP. The discovery was made possible with the development of a new source of radiation that is ten billion times brighter than any synchrotron in the world (such as the UK’s Diamond Light Source). The FLASH laser, based in Hamburg, Germany, produces extremely brief pulses of soft X-ray light, each of which is more powerful than the output of a power plant that provides electricity to a whole city. The Oxford team, along with their international colleagues, focused all this power down into a spot with a diameter less than a twentieth of the width of a human hair. At such high intensities the aluminium turned transparent. Whilst the invisible effect lasted for only an extremely brief period - an estimated 40 femtoseconds - it demonstrates that such an exotic state of matter can be created using very high power X-ray sources. So it takes the power output needs of a city for a day to turn a area of aluminum so small you can not see it with your eye, transparent to ultra-violet light, for less time then it takes for light to travel 12 micrometers. That is a fantastic use of resources. I'm amazed the aluminum was not simply vaporized. You'll excuse me if I do not order that transparent garage door just yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trancelikestate Posted July 29, 2009 Author #4 Share Posted July 29, 2009 From the link in the OP.So it takes the power output needs of a city for a day to turn a area of aluminum so small you can not see it with your eye, transparent to ultra-violet light, for less time then it takes for light to travel 12 micrometers. That is a fantastic use of resources. I'm amazed the aluminum was not simply vaporized. You'll excuse me if I do not order that transparent garage door just yet. you have to admit though, this is still very interesting. these experiments could be the beginning of some very exiting developments in technology, just give it time to be further developed and researched Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Awesome Posted July 29, 2009 #5 Share Posted July 29, 2009 The humpback whales will be extinct long before we have enough aluminium to transport them through space! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grandpa Greenman Posted July 29, 2009 #6 Share Posted July 29, 2009 I wouldn't use it for a fish tank, I think it would be toxic and kill the fish. Now all we need is unlimited energy source to make it with, but now we have the basic science it will be there when we are ready to put it into practical. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Legatus Legionis Posted July 29, 2009 #7 Share Posted July 29, 2009 now if they could knock out those "core electrons from the atoms" permanently , they could create a new material.. TransAlum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WoIverine Posted July 29, 2009 #8 Share Posted July 29, 2009 The humpback whales will be extinct long before we have enough aluminium to transport them through space! LOL, "nuclear wessels!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lt_Ripley Posted July 29, 2009 #9 Share Posted July 29, 2009 The humpback whales will be extinct long before we have enough aluminium to transport them through space! ah but remember they had to go back in time to get those ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
behaviour??? Posted July 29, 2009 #10 Share Posted July 29, 2009 ah but remember they had to go back in time to get those ! That is very good and logical....... thanks for the Interesting post TLS Thanks B??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
randym23 Posted July 29, 2009 #11 Share Posted July 29, 2009 now I can that Wonder Woman jet! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
:PsYKoTiC:BeHAvIoR: Posted July 29, 2009 #12 Share Posted July 29, 2009 now if they could knock out those "core electrons from the atoms" permanently , they could create a new material.. TransAlum. I like that coined term! I hope I get to see this technology perfected in my lifetime. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cookes453 Posted July 29, 2009 #13 Share Posted July 29, 2009 (edited) So what kind of usage will this discovery yield? Starship windows? Edited July 29, 2009 by Cookes453 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghost_Seer Posted July 29, 2009 #14 Share Posted July 29, 2009 Sorry if this has already been mentioned. LOL! There was a Star Trek Movie (sorry I can remember which one) where the Enterprise goes back in Time to rescue some whales I think and Scotty gives a Scientist / Engineer the formula for Transparent Aluminum in exchange for his help. Is this now Life imitating Art perhaps? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
debunker09 Posted July 29, 2009 #15 Share Posted July 29, 2009 So what kind of usage will this discovery yield?Starship windows? why limit it to starship windows? Sound like Autoglass will go out of business! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pandora7321 Posted July 29, 2009 #16 Share Posted July 29, 2009 With the state of the environment and the world economy the way it is, I think it is incredibly stupid to waste enough energy to run an entire city just to make something that only lasted "femtoseconds". Whatever the hell that is....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Legatus Legionis Posted July 29, 2009 #17 Share Posted July 29, 2009 With the state of the environment and the world economy the way it is, I think it is incredibly stupid to waste enough energy to run an entire city just to make something that only lasted "femtoseconds".Whatever the hell that is....... xD if you comare a femtosecond to second, it's like comparing a diameter of a single strand of your hair to the distance between the earth and the sun (au). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lt_Ripley Posted July 30, 2009 #18 Share Posted July 30, 2009 (edited) now I can that Wonder Woman jet! lmao. that was cool ! yet scary !! kinda halfbaked since she wasn't invisible .. Edited July 30, 2009 by Lt_Ripley Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ROGER Posted July 30, 2009 #19 Share Posted July 30, 2009 Ya know I think I may have dated this Women! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
debunker09 Posted July 30, 2009 #20 Share Posted July 30, 2009 With the state of the environment and the world economy the way it is, I think it is incredibly stupid to waste enough energy to run an entire city just to make something that only lasted "femtoseconds".Whatever the hell that is....... I cant agree. If mankind didnt do things like this there would never be any human advancement. I not saying that this will have a huge effect on scientific progression particularly, but we have to conduct these experiments or we would never find anything out. Incidentally a femtosecond is expressed a 1x10 to the power -15 or 0.000000000000001 of 1 second. For comparison, 1 femtosecond is to a second, what 1 second is to 32,511,444 years! I fear I may have too much time on my hands. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Exterminator Posted July 30, 2009 #21 Share Posted July 30, 2009 The physical properties of the matter we are creating are relevant to the conditions inside large planets, and we also hope that by studying it we can gain a greater understanding of what is going on during the creation of 'miniature stars' created by high-power laser implosions, which may one day allow the power of nuclear fusion to be harnessed here on Earth.' This statement really caught my attention. I am sure this discovery will help ITER. Imagine the creation of a miniature star within the grasp of mankind, yielding such tremendous energy that would dwarf the sources of energy we have now. Imagine our cities and countries getting the power from this unlimited source of energy. With all these new discoveries and perplexing theories of science, I cannot but help feel how relatively small the horizon of our knowledge is on the border of the vast cosmic depths of countless unknown things in science. Newton's quote says it best " I was like a boy playing on the sea-shore, and diverting myself now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sepulchrave Posted August 1, 2009 #22 Share Posted August 1, 2009 I was kinda surprised to see this thread, I am currently in Italy at the XAFS14 conference (xafs14.org) and someone gave a seminar on warm dense matter (WDM), mentioning the transparent aluminum. As previous posters have mentioned, there isn't actually any direct use for transparent aluminum (or beryllium, or boron), but these intense X-ray sources allow study of WDM - which is kind of the solid state analogue of a plasma. Plasma is obviously under research as a feasible form of fusion, however plasma behaves like a gas and is very difficult to contain. Perhaps (kind of a big IF at the moment, though), WDM might have similar potential for fusion but since it is basically a solid would not have any of the containment problems that gas-plasma does. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ninjadude Posted August 1, 2009 #23 Share Posted August 1, 2009 I find it odd how the (admittedly) astonishing creation of transparisteel could be classified as a new form of matter? I mean how does it behave differently and distinct enough to put it into a new category along with solid, liquid, gas, and plasma? There are many more states of matter than those four source None of the existing states of matter can do this from the article. For a brief period the sample looks and behaves in every way like a new form of matter. In certain respects, the way it reacts is as though we had changed every aluminium atom into silicon: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Agent X Posted August 2, 2009 #24 Share Posted August 2, 2009 OH MY GOD AM I HAVING A NERDGASM AND A TREKGASM AT THE SAME TIME! Sorry, just had to. Wow. Just WOW! And I don't mean that lightly! But it remains to be seen what the properties are and what the proerties can be applied to. That's a number of years down the road yet. Sill, I LIKE THIS SHIP! IT'S EXCITING! *Does Irish Jig* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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