Scientists at Oxford have come up with a form of “transparent aluminum” by bombarding the alloy with the world’s most intense soft X-ray laser. Previously, so called “Transparent aluminium” only existed in sci-fi movies, most notably in the movie Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. The real compound, however, is actually a new state of matter with drastic new implications.
Scientists say a short burst from the FLASH laser ‘knocked out’ a core electron from every single aluminium atom in a sample without disrupting the metal’s crystalline structure. This made the aluminium practically invisible to extreme ultraviolet radiation.
”What we have created is a completely new state of matter nobody has seen before,” said Professor Justin Wark of Oxford University’s Department of Physics. “Transparent aluminium is just the start. 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.”
As Spock would say…”Fascinating.” Can warp speed be far behind?
Here is the clip in question from Star Trek IV…
Related Reading
- Transparent Aluminum Is ‘New State Of Matter’
- Aluminum Blasted With X-Ray Laser Reveals New Transparent State of Matter
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