Surfing a wake of light: Researchers observe and control light wakes for the first time
Monday, July 6, 2015 - 11:50
in Physics & Chemistry
When a duck paddles across a pond or a supersonic plane flies through the sky, it leaves a wake in its path. Wakes occur whenever something is traveling through a medium faster than the waves it creates—in the duck's case water waves, in the plane's case shock waves, otherwise known as sonic booms.