Ultracold atoms moving through a carefully designed arrangement of laser beams will jiggle slightly as they go, two NIST scientists have predicted. If observed, this never-before-seen “jitterbug” motion would shed light on a little-known oddity of quantum mechanics arising from Paul Dirac’s 80-year-old theory of the electron.
Using laser light to stir an ultracold gas of atoms, researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the Joint Quantum Institute (NIST/University of Maryland) have demonstrated the first “persistent” current in an ultracold atomic gas —a frictionless flow of particles.
A team of physicists has exploited one of the most mysterious phenomena in nature to make a major advance toward the long-sought goal of super-fast quantum computing.
Physicists at the Commerce Department's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have induced thousands of atoms trapped by laser beams to swap “spins” with partners simultaneously.
