Scientists in South Korea have created what they name “the world’s smallest ball recreation,” throwing particular person atoms between two optical traps. The analysis might ultimately make for extra adaptable and dynamic quantum computer systems.
The power to make use of lasers to lure and manipulate particular person atoms, particles and even dwell micro organism was a Nobel Prize-winning breakthrough. The radiation strain of sunshine may be sturdy sufficient to maneuver or maintain microscale objects, making for optical tweezers, traps and possibly even tractor beams.
For the brand new examine, researchers on the Korea Superior Institute of Science and Know-how (KAIST) developed a strategy to throw an atom from one lure to a different. As traditional with this type of setup, the crew began by cooling a cloud of rubidium atoms right down to nearly absolute zero, then trapped them in a grid of lasers tuned to a wavelength of 800 nanometers.
To throw them round, the crew accelerates one optical lure, then switches it off so the atom goes flying. To catch it, one other lure is then turned on to sluggish it down till it stops. In exams, the scientists threw atoms throughout distances of 4.2 micrometers at speeds of as much as 65 cm (26 in) per second.
“The freely flying atoms transfer from one place to the opposite with out being held by or interacting with the optical lure,” stated Jaewook Ahn, lead creator of the examine. “In different phrases, the atom is thrown and caught between the 2 optical traps very like the ball travels between the pitcher and a catcher in a baseball recreation.”
Intriguingly, the crew confirmed that atoms might be thrown by means of different stationary optical traps with out interfering with them or interacting with different atoms alongside the best way. This implies it might be an efficient method for transferring atoms round an array with out having to reset the entire thing.
“We frequently encountered association errors that rendered an array faulty,” stated Ahn. “We needed to search out an environment friendly strategy to repair a faulty array with out having to maneuver numerous atoms, as a result of that would lead to much more defects.”
The method may be used to make extra dynamic quantum computer systems, permitting qubits of data to be moved in relation to one another. Earlier than then although, the crew plans to proceed working to enhance the success price for the creation of free-flying atoms up from round 94%.
The analysis was revealed within the journal Optica.