Can Empty Space Alter the Behaviour of Light?

Our universe is full of unknowns but researchers from Swinburne University may have brought us one step closer to an old phenomenon: that empty space can alter the behaviour of light.

The phenomenon was predicted almost 90 years ago, suggesting that even in a perfect vacuum, there should be ‘virtual particles’ that rapidly pop in and out of existence. In this study, the properties of a magnetar were used to understand the vacuum birefringence phenomenon. The magnetar’s ultra-strong magnetic field has the potential to be used to open new pathways to explore the quantum universe (including the hunt for dark matter) and the findings of this research could be used in real-world applications, for example the design of better diagnostic tools for medical scanning.

Fiona Bartholomaeus chats with Dr Marcus Lower from Swinburne University of Technology.