A team of researchers has found a previously unknown way light interacts with matter. This discovery can unlock technological advancements like light-emitting diodes, enhanced solar power systems, and semiconductor lasers.
In 1923, American physicist Arthur Compton found that gamma photons can obtain enough momentum to interact strongly with free or bound electrons. This proved that light can exist as both wave and particle. In a recent study, the research team demonstrated that the momentum of visible light in nanoscale silicon crystals can make a similar optical interaction in semiconductors.
Understanding the origin of the interaction would require revisiting the discovery of Indian physicist C.V. Raman in 1928. While attempting to repeat the Compton experiment with visible light, Raman encountered inconsistencies between the momentum of electrons and that of visible protons.
Despite this obstacle, Raman's experiment of inelastic scattering in liquids and gases led to the proposal of the vibrational Raman effect and spectroscopy method that came to be known as Raman scattering.
Recently, a team of experts learned that photons can gain substantial momentum when confined to nanometer-scale spaces in silicon. The discovery resulted from a collaborative effort between chemists from the University of California, Irvine, and scientists from Russia's Kazan Federal University under the leadership of Dmitry Fishman. The details of the study were discussed in the paper "Photon-Momentum-Enabled Electronic Raman Scattering in Silicon Glass."
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