Faster than a speeding photon? Precursors test whether light can be faster than light
While we wait [for neutrino analysis], it is worth noting that in June 0f 2011 a group of researchers performed an experiment to see if light itself could move faster than light! In particular, the scientists used a little known optical phenomenon known as an optical precursor to see if individual photons might travel faster than while propagating in a material. In the end, the experiment suggests that these single photons did not in fact violate Einstein’s speed limit, though the results still got a significant amount of press.
Photons traveling through well-behaved spacetime are seen to be well-behaved. Diddles begin when a photon tunnels through a barrier. There is no classical path through the barrier, but the photon gets from start to finish “through” it. Is traverse of barrier width well-behaved re lightspeed, or does the photon not have the classically forbidden gap as part of its path?
Frustrated total internal reflection spectroscopy doesn’t make any extravagant claims.