Researchers from MIT and the University of Texas at Arlington suggest that supercooling radioactive atoms may enable the creation of laser-like neutrino beams. They illustrate this by calculating the potential for a neutrino laser using one million rubidium-83 atoms. Generally, the half-life of a radioactive atom like this is approximately 82 days, indicating that half of the atoms will decay and emit an equal number of neutrinos within that timeframe. Their findings indicate that cooling rubidium-83 to a stable quantum state could allow for radioactive decay to occur in only a few minutes.
BJP Jones & Ja Formaggio devises the concept of a laser that emits neutrinos. Image credit: Gemini AI.
“In this neutrino laser scenario, neutrinos would be released at a significantly accelerated rate, similar to how lasers emit photons rapidly.”
“This offers a groundbreaking method to enhance radioactive decay and neutrino output. To my knowledge, this has never been attempted before,” remarked MIT Professor Joseph Formaggio.
A few years ago, Professor Formaggio and Dr. Jones were each considering unique opportunities in this field. They pondered: could we amplify the natural process of neutrino generation through quantum consistency?
Their preliminary research highlighted several fundamental challenges to achieving this goal.
Years later, during discussions regarding the properties of ultra-cold tritium, they asked: could enhancing qualitatively the quantum state of radioactive atoms like tritium lead to improved neutrino production?
The duo speculated that transitioning radioactive atoms into Bose-Einstein condensates might promote neutrino generation. However, during quantum mechanical calculations, they initially concluded that such effects might not be feasible.
“It was a misleading assumption; merely creating a Bose-Einstein condensate does not speed up radioactive decay or neutrino production,” explained Professor Formaggio.
Years later, Dr. Jones revisited the concept, incorporating the phenomenon of Superradiance. This principle from quantum optics occurs when groups of luminescent atoms are synchronously stimulated.
It is anticipated that in this coherent state, the atoms will emit a burst of superradiant or more radioactive photons than they would if they were not synchronized.
Physicists suggest that analogous superradiant effects may be achievable with radioactive Bose-Einstein condensates, potentially leading to similar bursts of neutrinos.
They turned to the equations governing quantum mechanics to analyze how light-emitting atoms transition from a coherent state to a superradiant state.
Using the same equations, they explored the behavior of radioactive atoms in a coherent Bose-Einstein condensed state.
“Our findings indicate that by producing photons more rapidly and applying that principle to neutrinos, we can significantly increase their emission rate,” noted Professor Formaggio.
“When all the components align, the superradiation of the radioactive condensate facilitates this accelerated, laser-like neutrino emission.”
To theoretically validate their idea, the researchers calculated the neutrino generation from a cloud of 1 million supercooled rubidium-83 atoms.
The results showed that in the coherent Bose-Einstein condensate state, atoms can reduce radioactivity at an accelerated rate, releasing a laser-like stream of neutrinos within minutes.
Having demonstrated that neutrino lasers are theoretically feasible, they plan to experiment with a compact tabletop setup.
“This should involve obtaining the radioactive material, evaporating, laser-trapping, cooling, and converting it into a Bose-Einstein condensate,” said Jones.
“Subsequently, we must instigate this superradiance.”
The pair recognizes that such experiments will require extensive precautions and precise manipulation.
“If we can demonstrate this in the lab, it opens up possibilities for future applications. Could this serve as a neutrino detector? Or perhaps as a new form of communication?”
Their paper has been published today in the journal Physical Review Letters.
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BJP Jones & Ja Formaggio. 2025. Super radioactive neutrino lasers from radioactive condensate. Phys. Pastor Rett 135, 111801; doi:10.1103/l3c1-yg2l
Source: www.sci.news
