Researchers at the University of Glasgow and the University of Heriot-Watt have altered the speed of light...in a vacuum. Normally, the speed of light could only be altered by changing the medium in which it passes through, but these scientists believe that it's time to rewrite the textbooks. Miles Padgett, from the University of Glasgow has shown that the speed of light in a vacuum, or 2.997 x 10E8 m/s is manipulable. By altering the wave structures of some photons, and sending them on a path with the same length as that of the unaltered photon, Padgett has shown that the altered photons travel more slowly than the unaltered ones. Even if the difference in velocity was only off by 0.001 percent, the difference in amount was not accidental. He and his co-authors hope to extend this application to classical light and sound waves and hope to see this used in the field of microscope optics.
What advantages does this present in the micro optic field and how difficult is it to active this manipulated speed?
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