atoms

Bringing the best of both worlds togetherPhoto by Toa Heftiba on UnsplashPredicting the structures, motions, and reactivity of atoms, molecules, and materials is crucial in modern science, as they are directly related to their properties and behavior, and hence applications. Traditionally, the study of matter at the atomic level has been approached using physics-based methods, which rely on the principles of either classical or quantum mechanics—depending on the level of detail intended and on the questions asked.…

When electrons couple up, further quantum trickery makes superconductivity unavoidable. Normally, electrons can’t overlap, but Cooper pairs follow a different quantum mechanical rule; they act like particles of light, any number of which can pile onto the head of a pin. Many Cooper pairs come together and merge into a single quantum mechanical state, a “superfluid,” that becomes oblivious to the atoms it passes between.BCS theory also explained why mercury and most other metallic elements superconduct when cooled close to…

Demonstrating that a cloud of atoms can be used as a receiver to pick up video transmission, researchers have developed an atomic television. The television uses atom clouds and lasers to carry video signal that meets the traditional resolution standard. Atom-based communication systems are believed to be smaller and can tolerate more noise than conventional electronics. The atoms, used in the device, are prepared in high-energy Rydberg states, which are unusually sensitive to electromagnetic fields including radio…

Scientists have developed an 'atomic television' that uses lasers and atom clouds to carry a video signal that meets the traditional 480i resolution (480 horizontal lines) standard.Just don't expect it to be installed as part of your home entertainment setup any time soon.Key to the technology is a glass container of gaseous super-sized rubidium atoms excited by two colors of laser beams into what's known as a Rydberg state – that's when atoms have a high level of energy, causing the electrons to orbit further out from…

Getting atoms to do what you want isn't easy – but it's at the heart of a lot of groundbreaking research in physics.Creating and controlling the behavior of new forms of matter is of particular interest and an active area of research.Our new study, published in Physical Review Letters, has uncovered a brand new way of sculpting ultracold atoms into different shapes using laser light.Ultracold atoms, cooled to temperatures close to absolute zero (-273°C), are of great interest to researchers as they allow them to see and…

Researchers at the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have shown that a cloud of atoms can be used as a receiver to pick up video transmissions. The team demonstrated this “Atomic Television” by transmitting live video feed and even video games through the atoms to a monitor.The “atomic” part of this Atomic TV comes from a gas of rubidium atoms in a glass container. The team uses lasers of two different colors to coax these atoms into a strange “Rydberg” state, where they have high energy and…

Two atoms inflated to an almost comical size and cooled to a fraction above absolute zero have been used to generate a robust, insanely fast two-qubit quantum gate that could help overcome some of quantum computing's persistent challenges.  Since a two-qubit gate is the fundamental building block of efficient quantum computers, this breakthrough has huge implications. It could lead to a new type of quantum computer architecture that breaks through current limitations for noise-free quantum operations.Qubit is a…

Is there a "fourth phase of water"? From time to time you might see people talking up the health benefits of so-called hexagonal water, or structured water, or exclusion-zone (EZ) water.  A few weeks ago Kourtney Kardashian's Poosh website was spruiking a US$2,500 "structured water filter". Last weekend even Australia's Sydney Morning Herald got in on the act, running a now-deleted story on the virtues of "structured water".So what's going on?As a professor of chemistry, I can tell you "EZ water" is nonsense. But let's…

Physicists have just caught light acting the part of 'glue' between atoms, in a kind of loosely bonded molecule."We have succeeded for the first time in polarizing several atoms together in a controlled way, creating a measurable attractive force between them," says University of Innsbruck physicist Matthias Sonnleitner.  Atoms connect to form molecules in a variety of ways, all involving a trade of charges as a kind of 'superglue'.Some share their negatively charged electrons, forming relatively strong bonds, like the…

Developing a method to observe the movement of atoms in a liquid, scientists from the University of Manchester have captured — for the first time — images of single atoms swimming in liquid. When a solid and a liquid come in contact with each other, both substances tend to change their configuration. This solid-liquid atomic-scale interaction governs the behaviour of batteries and fuel cells for generating clean energy. In addition, it also it also helps determine the efficiency of clean water generation and plays role in…