Scientists bind light to a single electron to create new form of light

Scientists have created a new form of light by binding light to a single electron, combining the properties of both, according to a recent study.

Scientists from Imperial College London have shown that the coupled light and electron would have properties that could lead to circuits that worked with packages of light - photons - instead of electrons.

Researchers will also be able to study quantum physical phenomena, which governed particles smaller than atoms, on a visible scale.

In normal materials, light interacted with a whole host of electrons that are found on the surface and within the material.

However, with the use of theoretical physics to model the behaviour of light and a recently-discovered class of materials called topological insulators, Imperial researchers found that it could interact with just one electron on the surface.

This creates a coupling that merged some  of the properties of the light and the electron. Light, normally travelled in a straight line, but when bound to the electron it follows its path, and trace the surface of the material.

In the study, Vincenzo Giannini and colleagues modelled the interaction around a nanoparticle - a small sphere less than 0.00000001 metres in diameter - made of a topological insulator.

''The results of this research will have a huge impact on the way we conceive light,'' said Giannini in a statement.

Also, while electrons usually stopped when they encountered a poor conductor, the addition of photons allowed the coupled particle to continue moving.

Photonic circuits could be used to power quantum simulators or applied to solid-state quantum memory systems, which formed an essential component in quantum computers.

According to researchers, the coupled particle could improve the durability of photonic circuits, making them less susceptible to "disruption and physical imperfections."

Usually, quantum phenomena – such as superposition, wherein particles existed in two different states simultaneously could be observed only in extremely small particles or in objects that had been supercooled, a combined photon-electron could, however allow researchers to study these effects on the visible scale and at room temperature.