Researchers at the CUNY Advanced Science Research Center have built a stationary tabletop circuit that amplifies electromagnetic waves by mimicking the energy-extraction physics of spinning black holes. The ring-shaped network of rapidly modulated electronic resonators produced 7.8 dB of gain without any moving parts. The findings were published July 8 in the journal Nature.
How the circuit works
The device is a ring of electronic resonators whose properties are rapidly modulated in time. This modulation creates a kind of synthetic motion that mimics the rotation of a black hole. In astrophysics, a spinning black hole drags spacetime around it, creating an ergosphere where energy can be extracted — a process known as the Penrose mechanism. The circuit replicates that effect in a lab setting, but for electromagnetic waves rather than gravitational ones.
Because the circuit has no moving parts, it sidesteps the usual mechanical limitations. The gain of 7.8 dB means the output signal is about six times more powerful than the input. That's a clear demonstration of wave amplification from a static structure.
What the experiment achieved
Previous attempts to build such a device required moving components or exotic materials. The CUNY team's approach uses off-the-shelf electronic components arranged in a carefully timed loop. The resonators are switched on and off in sequence, creating a rotating pattern that interacts with incoming waves the way a black hole's rotation interacts with particles and fields.
The result is a proof-of-concept that shows the principle works at tabletop scale. The researchers didn't claim any immediate practical applications, but the experiment confirms that the physics of black hole energy extraction can be reproduced in a controlled laboratory environment.
The paper in Nature describes the circuit's design and the measured gain. The team hasn't announced next steps, but the demonstration raises the possibility of new types of amplifiers or energy-harvesting devices that rely on time-varying properties rather than moving parts. For now, the circuit remains a research tool — one that proves a stationary system can do what was once thought to require spin.
