Laser light & beautiful fractals

[ArcticDude]

Laser light can contain intricate, beautiful fractals

Despite their simplicity, certain lasers can create the complex patterns >>

Fractals commonly show up in nature, from spiral-shaped seashells to heads of cauliflower. Now physicists have found these complex, self-repeating patterns in a very unnatural spot: laser light.

Peer closely at a small section of a fractal, and it looks just like the whole. About 20 years ago, researchers predicted that this type of pattern could appear in light from certain types of lasers. But no one had seen those patterns until now , scientists report in a study published January 25 in Physical Review A.

https://journals.aps.org/pra/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevA.99.013848 >>

 

[rvrh3]

That's awesome. I saw this and it blows my mind how complex our universe really is. I wonder what kind of knowledge and technologies will be based on this very discovery, in the future.

 

[paul1598419]

I became aware of fractal geometry quite a few years ago. One of the practical uses was the cell phone antenna. Beyond their usefulness, they are very beautiful as well.