October 13, 2006 An innovative process that converts low-energy
longwave photons (light particles) into higher-energy shortwave
photons has been developed by a team of researchers at the Max
Planck Institute for Polymer Research in Mainz and at the Sony
Materials Science Laboratory in Stuttgart. With the skillful
combination of two light-active substances, the scientists have,
for the first time, manipulated normal light, such as sunlight,
to combine the energy in photons with particular wavelengths
(Physical Review Letters, October 4, 2006). This has previously
only been achieved with a similar process using high-energy
density laser light. The successful outcome of this process
could lay the foundation for a new generation of more efficient
solar cells.