Monday, October 4, 2010

Single Atom Image

One Atom of rubidium-85
Scientists in New Zealand managed to take this photo of a single atom of rubidium-85.

They slowed down a group of atoms and managed to capture the atom with optical "tweezers" - basically 2 lasers acting like a tractor beam.

Once captured they used a camera designed to take photographs in space, and take this image. This technology is important in the future development of quantum-logic computing.

More Tech @ Popular Science