An artistic demonstration of Penrose superradiation: Electromagnetic waves with specific spin patterns are amplified as they interact with a system that appears to be rotating at superluminous speeds. (Photo credit: Dalila Basuti and Haditha Nassari)
Physicists have successfully recreated some of the extreme physics of black holes inside the laboratory by building a stationary device that can replicate the effects of impossible rotation speeds.This achievement confirms a theoretical idea proposed by Sir Roger Penrose more than half a century ago, when he proposed the possibility of taking energy from a rapidly rotating black hole. Instead of using moving parts, researchers at the Advanced Science Research Center at the City University of New York Graduate Center (CUNY ASRC) used artificial rotation to recreate this cosmic energy process in a controlled laboratory environment.The discovery, published in the journal Nature, moves a long-standing idea from science fiction to practical physics.
The laboratory model avoids the physical limits of mechanical machines and could help create new technologies in wireless communications, advanced optics and quantum computing.
Breaking the speed limits of materials
In 1969, Penrose proposed that if a particle entered a black hole’s atmosphere, an exotic region in which the black hole’s rotation drags space and time with it, the particle could split into two parts. One part will fall beyond the point of no return, while the other part can escape with more energy than the original particle had.
Physicist Yakov Zeldovich later expanded this idea by showing that light and radio waves could also gain energy and become stronger if they bounced off an object rotating at extremely high speeds.For decades, scientists couldn’t test this idea in the lab using real motion because solid materials would disintegrate under the intense forces needed to replicate the black hole-like spin. To overcome this problem, the CUNY ASRC team created a completely stable radio frequency ring made of a specially designed metamaterial.Instead of physically rotating the device, the researchers used carefully timed changes in the electrical properties of electronic components placed around the ring. This controlled timing created a moving wave pattern that replicated the physics of an object rotating faster than the speed of light.“Our approach facilitates a new way of wave-matter interaction, in which waves with selected spin properties extract energy from engineered artificial spin, producing a form of broadband selective amplification,” said lead researcher Andrea Allo, distinguished professor and professor of physics at the CUNY Graduate Center and founding director of the CUNY Photonics Initiative.
CUNY physicists recreate black hole energy in a landmark laboratory experiment
Generating energy through artificial motion
The main part of the experiment relied on how electromagnetic waves interact within this artificial environment. When radio waves with certain rotational features entered the stationary ring, they interacted with the changing pattern created by the researchers. The waves gained energy from the artificial motion of the system and became stronger.“Waves with appropriate rotational properties extracted energy from the system and became amplified, reproducing the fundamental physics of the Penrose-Zeldovich process,” said co-lead author Hadi Moussa, a former doctoral student in the CUNY ASRC Photonics Initiative.
“Our approach relies on synthetic materials designed to control how waves propagate.”By removing the need for actual physical rotation, this experiment gives scientists a safe way to study the natural laws that typically occur near the edges of black holes.“This successful experiment moves ideas about extreme spin dynamics from theory to application and creates a versatile experimental platform for exploring a wide range of phenomena at the intersection of astrophysics, wave physics, and quantum science,” said lead author Hadisa Nasari, a postdoctoral researcher in the CUNY ASRC Photonics Initiative.
“This work has implications for advances in basic sciences, communications, optics and photonics.
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Real-world uses of black hole physics
Although the experiment helps astrophysicists understand extreme space conditions, the technology behind it could also have practical uses on Earth. The ability to amplify certain waves using static artificial rotation could help engineers create more efficient parts for future wireless communications systems and radar technology.The research team plans to miniaturize the technology and test how it works with photonic devices and light-based quantum systems. If successful, this method could allow engineers to control how light moves across computer chips, potentially creating faster data processing systems.The project received support and funding from the US Department of Defense (DOJ), the US National Science Foundation, and the Simons Foundation. Further improvements to synthetic material rings will be needed before the technology can be used in commercial communications devices.
