Physicists devise an idea for lasers that shoot beams of neutrinos

Amazing stuff!

"... Now ... physicists propose a much more compact and efficient way to generate neutrinos that could be realized in a tabletop experiment.

In a paper ... the physicists introduce the concept for a “neutrino laser” — a burst of neutrinos that could be produced by laser-cooling a gas of radioactive atoms down to temperatures colder than interstellar space. At such frigid temps, the team predicts the atoms should behave as one quantum entity, and radioactively decay in sync.

The decay of radioactive atoms naturally releases neutrinos, and the physicists say that in a coherent, quantum state this decay should accelerate, along with the production of neutrinos. This quantum effect should produce an amplified beam of neutrinos, broadly similar to how photons are amplified to produce conventional laser light. ..."

From the abstract:

"Superradiance emerges from collective spontaneous emission in optically pumped gases, and is characterized by photon emission enhancements of up to 1/4 ⁢𝑁2 in an 𝑁 atom system.

The gain mechanism derives from correlations developed within the decay medium rather than from stimulated emission as in lasing, so an analog of this process should be possible for fermionic final states.

We introduce here the concept of superradiant neutrino emission from a radioactive Bose Einstein condensate, which can form the basis for a superradiant neutrino laser.

A plausible experimental realization based on a condensate of electron-capture isotope  83 Rb could exhibit effective radioactive decay rates accelerated from 86.2 days to minutes in viably sized rubidium condensates of 106 atoms."

Physicists devise an idea for lasers that shoot beams of neutrinos | MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology "Super-cooling radioactive atoms could produce a laser-like neutrino beam, offering a new way to study these ghostly particles — and possibly a new form of communication."

Envisioning a Neutrino Laser "A Bose-Einstein condensate of radioactive atoms could turn into a source of intense, coherent, and directional neutrino beams, according to a theoretical proposal."

Superradiant Neutrino Lasers from Radioactive Condensates (open access)

A Bose-Einstein condensate of radioactive atoms could turn into a source of intense, coherent, and directional neutrino beams, according to a theoretical proposal.