Bright idea Superradiance can create intense bursts of coherent light. Can it do the same for neutrinos? (Courtesy: iStock)"> Bright idea Superradiance can create intense bursts of coherent light. Can it do the same for neutrinos? (Courtesy: iStock)

Could radioactive atoms in a Bose–Einstein condensate (BEC) form a “superradiant neutrino laser”? According to a paper published last year by Benjamin Jones of the University of Manchester and Joseph Formaggio of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology the answer is “yes”. We were intrigued by this proposal and commissioned the freelance physics writer Tim Wogan to write an article for us.

As part of his reporting, Wogan sought the opinion of a BEC expert – James Thompson of NIST, JILA and the University of Colorado in Boulder.…