Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the United States have achieved an innovative achievement after filming the first images of individual atoms freely interacting in space.
Images that show interactions between free -range particles that have been theorized so far will allow scientists to directly monitor quantum phenomena in real space.
In order to capture detailed images of atomic interactions, the team led by Martin Zwierlene, a doctor of science, a physicist of the MIT, and a lead author of the study developed a new technique that allows atoms to move freely before freezing and to light them to capture their positions.
The team uses the technique to observe clouds of different types of atoms, capturing several innovative images for the first time.
“We are able to see single atoms in these interesting clouds of atoms and what they do about one another, which is beautiful,” said Trelein.
Cloud
Atoms are among the smallest building blocks of the universe, each only one-tenth of a nanometer wide or approximately a million times thinner than a strand of human hair. They also follow the strange rules of quantum mechanics, which makes their behavior incredibly difficult to observe and understand.
It is impossible to know both the exact position of the atom and its speed at the same time – the basic principle of quantum physics, known as the principle of uncertainty of Heisenberg.
This uncertainty has long been provoked by scientists who are trying to observe the atomic behavior directly, but traditional methods of depiction, such as images of absorption, provide only blurred views, capturing the overall shape of the atomic cloud, but not atoms themselves.
Now, in order to overcome the challenge, the team has developed a new approach called atomic-advertised microscopy, which begins with the fact that it allows a cloud of atoms to move and interact freely into a free laser trap.
Below: Images show ²³na condensate, one -way ⁶li and paired farms in a mixture of farms.
Credit: mit / kindness of researchers
The researchers then include a lattice of light to freeze atoms in place and use a finely adjusted laser to illuminate them, causing the atoms to fluorescent – a condition when an atom or molecules are released by vibration relaxation to their main condition after they are excited.
Catching this light without disturbing the delicate system was not a small feat. “You can imagine that if you took fire resistance to these atoms, they would not like it,” Zwierlein explained. “So, we have learned some tricks over the years how to do this.”
According to physics, what really makes the technique helpful from previous methods is that for the first time they did in situ by freezing the movement of atoms, as they interact strongly and watch them one after the other.
Quantum
Zwierlein and his colleagues used their new depiction technique to capture quantum interactions between two main types of particles: bosons and farmions.
Bosons – including photons, glules, Higgs boson and bosons W and Z – which tend to attract, were observed to gather together in a cloud of sodium atoms at low temperatures, forming the same quantum state.
This has confirmed a long -standing forecast based on Louis de Bogoli’s theory that Boson Bunching is a direct result of their ability to share a quantum wave – a hypothesis known as We Broglie Wave, which helped to cause the rise of modern quantum mechanics.
“We understand a lot more about the world than this wavy nature,” said Tellene. “But it is really difficult to observe these quantum, wavy effects. However, in our new microscope, we can visualize this wave directly.”
Researchers also depict a cloud of two types of lithium atoms, any farmion that usually repels others of a kind but can strongly interact with specific other types of farmions. They then captured these opposite farmions, pairing, revealing a key mechanism behind the superconductivity.
They are now planning to apply the technique for the study of more complex and less studied quantum conditions, including the puzzling behavior observed in the physics of the Quantum Hall. These include scenarios in which interacting electrons exhibit unusually correlated behavior under the influence of a magnetic field.
“It is there that the theory becomes really hairy – where people start drawing photos, instead of being able to record a complete theory because they can’t solve it completely,” Zwierlein concludes in a press message. “We can now check that these cartoons of the Quantum Hall are actually real. Because they are quite bizarre conditions.”
The study has been published in the magazine Letters of physical examinationS