atoms

Hybrid integration of a designer nanodiamond with photonic circuits via ring resonators. CreditSteven Burrows/Sun GroupJILA breakthrough in integrating artificial atoms with photonic circuits advances quantum computing efficiency and scalability.In quantum information science, many particles can act as “bits,” from individual atoms to photons. At JILA, researchers utilize these bits as “qubits,” storing and processing quantum 1s or 0s through a unique system.While many JILA Fellows focus on qubits found in nature, such as…

Researchers have devised a method to accurately measure an atom’s three-dimensional position with a single image, revolutionizing quantum mechanics experiments and material development by facilitating precise atom manipulation and tracking.The method developed at the Universities of Bonn and Bristol uses an ingenious physical principle.For over ten years, physicists have been able to pinpoint the exact positions of individual atoms with a precision finer than one-thousandth of a millimeter using a specialized microscope.…

Researchers at Hokkaido University have created molecules capable of rotating internally when exposed to light, potentially revolutionizing molecular switches, computing, and drug development. Inspired by natural processes, this breakthrough offers new avenues for precise molecular manipulation and applications in targeted therapies and bioactive systems.Molecules that are induced by light to rotate bulky groups around central bonds when exposed to light could lead to the creation of light-activated bioactive systems,…

Positronium cooling. The AEgIS collaboration at CERN has experimentally demonstrated the laser cooling of positronium using an alexandrite-based laser system. Credit: CERN – Politecnico di MilanoResearchers successfully cooled positronium atoms, significantly impacting antimatter research and enabling new experiments in quantum electrodynamics and the potential for an antimatter Bose-Einstein condensate.The international AEgIS (Antimatter Experiment: gravity, Interferometry, Spectroscopy) collaboration at CERN, in which…

More than half a century ago, Japanese physicist Yosuke Nagaoka theorized a way a magnetic field might expand from meandering electrons restlessly searching for a place to rest that was radically different from conventional models of ferromagnetism.A phenomenon recently observed in a stack of alternating semiconductors could be explained by Nagaoka's speculations, while throwing out a few unforeseen surprises.In an experiment led by researchers from ETH Zürich in Switzerland, atomically thin grids of two different…

Researchers at the University of Nottingham have achieved a scientific breakthrough by trapping krypton atoms inside carbon nanotubes, creating a one-dimensional gas. This was accomplished using advanced transmission electron microscopy, revealing insights into atomic behavior and interatomic forces. (Artist’s concept.) Credit: SciTechDaily.comScientists trap krypton atoms in carbon nanotubes, forming a one-dimensional gas and offering new insights into atomic behavior and molecular forces.For the first time, scientists…

Whether it was in your shoelaces or earbud cables, we’ve all accidentally tied knots that we can’t untangle – but we don’t expect to win any world records with them. Now scientists have done exactly that, accidentally tying the world’s smallest and tightest knot in a tiny structure made of just 54 atoms.The researchers were producing chemical reactions to create small gold chains, when one reaction went wrong and created a chain that spontaneously tied itself into a trefoil knot. This three-looped knot resembles a…

Scientists have accidentally tied the smallest and tightest knot ever, overtaking the top spot in the Guinness Book of World Records.The remarkable microscopic tangle contains just 54 atoms that twist around three times into an interlacing loop called a 'trefoil' knot, with no loose ends.This 'three-leaf clover' shape is the simplest of nontrivial knots, and it's fundamental to mathematical knot theory.In 2020, chemists in China trained a chain of 69 atoms to cross over itself three times to form the trefoil. Now,…

Christmas lights might not be the only thing lighting up these dark December nights, as a solar storm is expected to bring bright northern lights to the Prairies this weekend.Aurora borealis is considered among the greatest natural wonders and scientists say it starts with the sun."The sun is sort of spewing off protons and electrons as a plasma in all directions, all the time, we call that the solar wind," said Bill Archer, mission manager at the Canadian Space Agency. "The magnetic field of the Earth actually forces the…

A few years ago, the researchers decided to put a superconducting metal called strontium ruthenate in their crosshairs. Its structure is similar to that of a mysterious class of copper-based “cuprate” superconductors, but it can be manufactured in a more pristine way. While the team didn’t learn the secrets of the cuprates, the material responded in a way that Ali Husain, who had refined the technique as part of his doctorate, didn’t understand.Husain found that ricocheting electrons were sapped of their energy and…