With further refinement, the technique might be used to briefly condense antimatter into fluid or solid states or even to create the first gamma-ray laser.
In a Bose-Einstein condensate, an exotic gas in which atoms share a quantum state, positrons could be forced to annihilate in sync to produce the first gamma-ray laser, Cassidy says.
Collins and his colleagues at the University of Texas at Dallas to consider diamond as a suitable lattice in which to embed atomic nuclei--the working ingredients for a proposed
gamma-ray laser (SN: 11/1/86 p.276).
Baldwin is a retired physicist and nuclear engineer who continues to research
gamma-ray lasers. He now lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and can be reached via e-mail at 75000.221@compuserve.com.
So, researchers have proposed that NEET may someday provide a mechanism for developing
gamma-ray lasers, with output far more energetic than existing laser beams.
These high-power pulses are used in experiments relating to controlled thermonuclear fusion, weapons development and development of X-ray and
gamma-ray lasers and other devices.