Physicists Capture First Glimpse of Isolated Atoms: Groundbreaking Study

Washington DC [USA], May 8 (ANI):
Physicists
managed to capture the first images of single atoms interacting freely in space. These photographs unveil connections between these ‘roaming’ particles that had been hypothesized but never actually seen before.

MIT physicists have managed to capture the very first pictures of solitary atoms interacting freely in space.

Their discoveries, published in Physical Review Letters, will enable scientists to observe previously unseen quantum phenomena in real space for the first time.

The photographs were captured utilizing a method devised by the team, which enables a cluster of atoms to move and interact freely for the first time.

Next, the scientists activate a light lattice that momentarily halts the movement of the atoms. They subsequently employ precisely adjusted lasers to swiftly capture an image revealing the locations of these immobilized atoms prior to their eventual dispersion.

The physicists utilized this method to create images of various atomic clouds, achieving several groundbreaking captures. They directly witnessed bosons—atoms that aggregate in a quantum effect, resulting in the formation of waves.

They similarly managed to capture fermions, which are specific types of atoms, as they paired up in open space—a crucial process that facilitates superconductivity.

“We are able to see single atoms in these interesting clouds of atoms and what they are doing in relation to each other, which is beautiful,” says Martin Zwierlein, the Thomas A. Frank Professor of Physics at MIT.

In the same journal issue, two other groups report using similar imaging techniques, including a team led by Nobel laureate Wolfgang Ketterle, the John D MacArthur Professor of Physics at MIT. Ketterle’s group visualized enhanced pair correlations among bosons, while the other group, from Ecole Normale Superieure in Paris, led by Tarik Yefsah, a former postdoc in Zwierlein’s lab, imaged a cloud of noninteracting fermions.

The study by Zwierlein and his colleagues is co-authored by MIT graduate students Ruixiao Yao, Sungjae Chi, and Mingxuan Wang, and MIT assistant professor of physics Richard Fletcher.

“These techniques allow you to see the overall shape and structure of a cloud of atoms, but not the individual atoms themselves,” Zwierlein notes. “It’s like seeing a cloud in the sky, but not the individual water molecules that make up the cloud.”

To directly visualize atoms interacting in open space, he and his team adopted a significantly distinct method. They employed a technique termed “atom-resolved microscopy.” This process starts with confining a group of atoms within a weak trap created by a laser beam. (ANI)