(Image credit: Thomas Angus, Imperial College London)

The classic quantum-physics double-slit experiment demonstrates that light can behave both as particles and waves.

Now a publication in the prestigious journal, Nature Physics, describes an experiment where the physicists have used “slots” separated in time, (rather than being spatially separated) to create an interference pattern showing as fringes in the frequency spectra of the transmitted light.

The whole process depends on an optical property of indium tin oxide (ITO) which has been discovered can change from transparent to reflective, in response to light in just 10 femtoseconds. The scientists propose that this metamaterial might be used to create a new type of reconfigurable analogue computer enabling neuromorphic computing, i.e. mimicking the way the brain works.

I will not try to explain this mind-bending physics in a short blog – if you want to read-up the details goto: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41567-023-01993-w.epdf

An easier read is: https://www.livescience.com/physics-mathematics/particle-physics/scientists-create-slits-in-time-in-mind-bending-physics-experiment