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For the first time light mimics a a Nobel Prize quantum effect

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  For the first time light mimics a a Nobel Prize quantum effect Jan Panteltje <alien@comet.invalid> - 2026-03-03 06:31 +0000
    Re: For the first time light mimics a a Nobel Prize quantum effect Bill Sloman <bill.sloman@ieee.org> - 2026-03-04 00:04 +1100
      Re: For the first time light mimics a a Nobel Prize quantum effect Jan Panteltje <alien@comet.invalid> - 2026-03-03 16:22 +0000
        Re: For the first time light mimics a a Nobel Prize quantum effect Bill Sloman <bill.sloman@ieee.org> - 2026-03-04 03:34 +1100
        Re: For the first time light mimics a a Nobel Prize quantum effect ram@zedat.fu-berlin.de (Stefan Ram) - 2026-03-03 16:49 +0000
          Re: For the first time light mimics a a Nobel Prize quantum effect Bill Sloman <bill.sloman@ieee.org> - 2026-03-04 16:48 +1100
          Re: For the first time light mimics a a Nobel Prize quantum effect ram@zedat.fu-berlin.de (Stefan Ram) - 2026-03-05 12:42 +0000
            Re: For the first time light mimics a a Nobel Prize quantum effect john larkin <jl@glen--canyon.com> - 2026-03-05 07:17 -0800
      Re: For the first time light mimics a a Nobel Prize quantum effect x <x@x.net> - 2026-03-03 11:44 -0800

#741192 — For the first time light mimics a a Nobel Prize quantum effect

For the first time, light mimics a Nobel Prize quantum effect
Date:
 March 1, 2026
Source:
 Université de Montréal
Summary:
 Scientists have pulled off a feat long considered out of reach: 
 getting light to mimic the famous quantum Hall effect. 
 In their experiment, photons drift sideways in perfectly defined, 
 quantized steps—just like electrons do in powerful magnetic fields. 
 Because these steps depend only on nature’s fundamental constants, 
 they could become a new gold standard for ultra-precise measurements. 
 The discovery also hints at tougher, more reliable quantum photonic technologies.

Link:
 https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/02/260228093446.htm
 

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#741197

On 3/03/2026 5:31 pm, Jan Panteltje wrote:
> For the first time, light mimics a Nobel Prize quantum effect
> Date:
>   March 1, 2026
> Source:
>   Université de Montréal
> Summary:
>   Scientists have pulled off a feat long considered out of reach:
>   getting light to mimic the famous quantum Hall effect.
>   In their experiment, photons drift sideways in perfectly defined,
>   quantized steps—just like electrons do in powerful magnetic fields.
>   Because these steps depend only on nature’s fundamental constants,
>   they could become a new gold standard for ultra-precise measurements.
>   The discovery also hints at tougher, more reliable quantum photonic technologies.
> 
> Link:
>   https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/02/260228093446.htm

Nothing in the press release says anything about how big these quantised 
steps are, let alone what determines the size of the steps. The original 
paper

https://journals.aps.org/prx/abstract/10.1103/2dyh-yhrb#fulltext

isn't any more informative, though it does suggest that asking about the 
physical size of the steps isn't quite the right question.

The University of Montreal may have discovered something interesting, 
but they've done a totally hopeless job of telling the world what it 
might be good for.

-- 
Bill Sloman, Sydney

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#741199

>Bill Sloman <bill.sloman@ieee.org>wrote:
>>On 3/03/2026 5:31 pm, Jan Panteltje wrote:
>> For the first time, light mimics a Nobel Prize quantum effect
>> Date:
>>   March 1, 2026
>> Source:
>>   Université de Montréal
>> Summary:
>>   Scientists have pulled off a feat long considered out of reach:
>>   getting light to mimic the famous quantum Hall effect.
>>   In their experiment, photons drift sideways in perfectly defined,
>>   quantized steps—just like electrons do in powerful magnetic fields.
>>   Because these steps depend only on nature’s fundamental constants,
>>   they could become a new gold standard for ultra-precise measurements.
>>   The discovery also hints at tougher, more reliable quantum photonic technologies.
>> 
>> Link:
>>   https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/02/260228093446.htm
>
>Nothing in the press release says anything about how big these quantised 
>steps are, let alone what determines the size of the steps. The original 
>paper
>
>https://journals.aps.org/prx/abstract/10.1103/2dyh-yhrb#fulltext
>
>isn't any more informative, though it does suggest that asking about the 
>physical size of the steps isn't quite the right question.
>
>The University of Montreal may have discovered something interesting, 
>but they've done a totally hopeless job of telling the world what it 
>might be good for.

I downloaded the paper:
 https://journals.aps.org/prx/pdf/10.1103/2dyh-yhrb
had a quick read but to much stuff I know shit about to make an opinion at his point
Maybe Dr Hobbs ?

It is interesting, so much happening in the quantum world.
We need simplicity, a mechanism, I stay with EM radiation is a state of the Le Sage particles..
(Ducks))

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#741200

On 4/03/2026 3:22 am, Jan Panteltje wrote:
>> Bill Sloman <bill.sloman@ieee.org>wrote:
>>> On 3/03/2026 5:31 pm, Jan Panteltje wrote:
>>> For the first time, light mimics a Nobel Prize quantum effect
>>> Date:
>>>    March 1, 2026
>>> Source:
>>>    Université de Montréal
>>> Summary:
>>>    Scientists have pulled off a feat long considered out of reach:
>>>    getting light to mimic the famous quantum Hall effect.
>>>    In their experiment, photons drift sideways in perfectly defined,
>>>    quantized steps—just like electrons do in powerful magnetic fields.
>>>    Because these steps depend only on nature’s fundamental constants,
>>>    they could become a new gold standard for ultra-precise measurements.
>>>    The discovery also hints at tougher, more reliable quantum photonic technologies.
>>>
>>> Link:
>>>    https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/02/260228093446.htm
>>
>> Nothing in the press release says anything about how big these quantised
>> steps are, let alone what determines the size of the steps. The original
>> paper
>>
>> https://journals.aps.org/prx/abstract/10.1103/2dyh-yhrb#fulltext
>>
>> isn't any more informative, though it does suggest that asking about the
>> physical size of the steps isn't quite the right question.
>>
>> The University of Montreal may have discovered something interesting,
>> but they've done a totally hopeless job of telling the world what it
>> might be good for.
> 
> I downloaded the paper:
>   https://journals.aps.org/prx/pdf/10.1103/2dyh-yhrb
> had a quick read but to much stuff I know shit about to make an opinion at his point
> Maybe Dr Hobbs ?
> 
> It is interesting, so much happening in the quantum world.
> We need simplicity, a mechanism, I stay with EM radiation is a state of the Le Sage particles..
> (Ducks))

You'd be right at home on sci.physics.relativity because there are 
people there who are even more pig-ignorant than you are.

-- 
Bill Sloman, Sydney

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#741202

Jan Panteltje <alien@comet.invalid> wrote or quoted:
>Maybe Dr Hobbs ?

  The researchers are studying how light behaves in a special kind of
  optical material where its movement mimics that of electrons in a
  topological solid - systems that have unusual, robust properties.

  They want to measure a number called the Chern number, which indi-
  cates how the light waves wrap around in this system, much like how
  a globe's surface wraps around itself.

  To do that, they shine a focused laser beam into the material and look
  at how the light shifts sideways when they apply an electric field.

  This sideways motion is similar to how electric charges drift in the
  Hall effect. However, other ordinary effects can cause similar side-
  ways shifts, which would confuse the measurement.

  To fix this, they cleverly alternate ("modulate") the artificial field
  in time and repeat the experiment for systems where the topological
  property (the Chern number's sign) is reversed. Because only the gen-
  uine topological part depends on that sign, by comparing the two cas-
  es they cancel all the unwanted background effects. Their simulations
  and measurements confirm that this approach lets them isolate the true
  topological signal.

  For readers with some background in mathematics and physics:

  The experiment measures the photonic analogue of the anomalous Hall
  current to extract the Chern number of a photonic band. The idea
  stems from theoretical work linking the Berry curvature to a trans-
  verse shift in the light's intensity profile when a synthetic elec-
  tric field (a gradient of on-site potential) is applied in a driven-
  dissipative lattice.

  In practice, they measure the transverse displacement δr_x induced
  by a force E_y , integrating the resulting Berry curvature across the
  Brillouin zone by scanning over laser ω_L. However, the observed sig-
  nal also contains non-Berry terms - linked to the quantum metric and
  ordinary band dispersion - that obscure the topological contribution.
  While these average to zero theoretically, in real experiments they
  can be large and unstable, introducing noise.

  To suppress these terms, the researchers introduce temporal modula-
  tion of the potential (making the synthetic field oscillate), which
  removes all field-independent (DC) contributions after demodulation.
  Then, by subtracting measurements from systems with opposite topolog-
  ical phases (ϕ_h=±π/2), they eliminate all residual non-Berry terms
  since only the Berry curvature changes sign. Simulations confirm that
  this double-cancellation (temporal modulation + topological phase re-
  versal) effectively isolates the Berry curvature's contribution, en-
  abling accurate extraction of the quantized Chern number in a photon-
  ic platform.

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#741216

On 4/03/2026 3:49 am, Stefan Ram wrote:
> Jan Panteltje <alien@comet.invalid> wrote or quoted:
>> Maybe Dr Hobbs ?
> 
>    The researchers are studying how light behaves in a special kind of
>    optical material where its movement mimics that of electrons in a
>    topological solid - systems that have unusual, robust properties.
> 
>    They want to measure a number called the Chern number, which indi-
>    cates how the light waves wrap around in this system, much like how
>    a globe's surface wraps around itself.
> 
>    To do that, they shine a focused laser beam into the material and look
>    at how the light shifts sideways when they apply an electric field.
> 
>    This sideways motion is similar to how electric charges drift in the
>    Hall effect. However, other ordinary effects can cause similar side-
>    ways shifts, which would confuse the measurement.
> 
>    To fix this, they cleverly alternate ("modulate") the artificial field
>    in time and repeat the experiment for systems where the topological
>    property (the Chern number's sign) is reversed. Because only the gen-
>    uine topological part depends on that sign, by comparing the two cas-
>    es they cancel all the unwanted background effects. Their simulations
>    and measurements confirm that this approach lets them isolate the true
>    topological signal.
> 
>    For readers with some background in mathematics and physics:
> 
>    The experiment measures the photonic analogue of the anomalous Hall
>    current to extract the Chern number of a photonic band. The idea
>    stems from theoretical work linking the Berry curvature to a trans-
>    verse shift in the light's intensity profile when a synthetic elec-
>    tric field (a gradient of on-site potential) is applied in a driven-
>    dissipative lattice.
> 
>    In practice, they measure the transverse displacement δr_x induced
>    by a force E_y , integrating the resulting Berry curvature across the
>    Brillouin zone by scanning over laser ω_L. However, the observed sig-
>    nal also contains non-Berry terms - linked to the quantum metric and
>    ordinary band dispersion - that obscure the topological contribution.
>    While these average to zero theoretically, in real experiments they
>    can be large and unstable, introducing noise.
> 
>    To suppress these terms, the researchers introduce temporal modula-
>    tion of the potential (making the synthetic field oscillate), which
>    removes all field-independent (DC) contributions after demodulation.
>    Then, by subtracting measurements from systems with opposite topolog-
>    ical phases (ϕ_h=±π/2), they eliminate all residual non-Berry terms
>    since only the Berry curvature changes sign. Simulations confirm that
>    this double-cancellation (temporal modulation + topological phase re-
>    versal) effectively isolates the Berry curvature's contribution, en-
>    abling accurate extraction of the quantized Chern number in a photon-
>    ic platform.

That's a more comprehensible explanation of what is going on, but still 
leaves me wondering what it might be good for.

-- 
Bill Sloman, Syndey

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#741230

ram@zedat.fu-berlin.de (Stefan Ram) wrote or quoted:
>To suppress these terms, the researchers introduce 
>temporal modulation of the potential

  This was cross-posted to sci.electronics.design; so especially
  for the readers of sci.electronics.design, let me add that
  this reminds me of something electronic, the lock-in amplifier!

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#741233

On 5 Mar 2026 12:42:36 GMT, ram@zedat.fu-berlin.de (Stefan Ram) wrote:

>ram@zedat.fu-berlin.de (Stefan Ram) wrote or quoted:
>>To suppress these terms, the researchers introduce 
>>temporal modulation of the potential
>
>  This was cross-posted to sci.electronics.design; so especially
>  for the readers of sci.electronics.design, let me add that
>  this reminds me of something electronic, the lock-in amplifier!
>

It would be cool if it could produce an optical modulator or
deflector.

Lithium niobate isn't the ideal stuff. Mach–Zehnders are inherently
tricky, the small difference between big numbers problem.

Optical PLZTs keep being the stuff of the future, but they are hard to
drive.


John Larkin
Highland Tech Glen Canyon Design Center
Lunatic Fringe Electronics

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#741205

On 3/3/26 05:04, Bill Sloman wrote:
> On 3/03/2026 5:31 pm, Jan Panteltje wrote:
>> For the first time, light mimics a Nobel Prize quantum effect
>> Date:
>>   March 1, 2026
>> Source:
>>   Université de Montréal
>> Summary:
>>   Scientists have pulled off a feat long considered out of reach:
>>   getting light to mimic the famous quantum Hall effect.
>>   In their experiment, photons drift sideways in perfectly defined,
>>   quantized steps—just like electrons do in powerful magnetic fields.
>>   Because these steps depend only on nature’s fundamental constants,
>>   they could become a new gold standard for ultra-precise measurements.
>>   The discovery also hints at tougher, more reliable quantum photonic 
>> technologies.
>>
>> Link:
>>   https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/02/260228093446.htm
> 
> Nothing in the press release says anything about how big these quantised 
> steps are, let alone what determines the size of the steps. The original 
> paper
> 
> https://journals.aps.org/prx/abstract/10.1103/2dyh-yhrb#fulltext
> 
> isn't any more informative, though it does suggest that asking about the 
> physical size of the steps isn't quite the right question.
> 
> The University of Montreal may have discovered something interesting, 
> but they've done a totally hopeless job of telling the world what it 
> might be good for.

I think that electrons have a specific mass and charge.  Same for 
protons.  Basic question.  Have the mass and charge of the electron
and proton been clearly and coherently derived from the photoelectric
effect?  Could any of you provide links to web pages that show how this 
is calculated in as simple a manner as possible?
> 

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