Physicists reach one-fifth quanta cooling
Physicists at the NIST have cooled an object below the so-called "quantum limit."
Described in the Jan. 12, 2017, issue of Nature, showed that a microscopic mechanical drum could be cooled to less than one-fifth of a single quantum, or packet of energy, lower than ordinarily predicted by quantum physics.
The new technique theoretically could be used to cool objects to absolute zero, the temperature at which matter is devoid of nearly all energy and motion, NIST scientists said.
http://phys.org/news/2017-01-physicists-cool-microscopic-quantum-limit.html
Physicists Cool Object to Below "Quantum Limit"
Physicists have used microwave light to cool an object to less than one-fifth of a quantum of energy:
"The colder you can get the drum, the better it is for any application," said NIST physicist John Teufel, who led the experiment. "Sensors would become more sensitive. You can store information longer. If you were using it in a quantum computer, then you would compute without distortion, and you would actually get the answer you want."
"The results were a complete surprise to experts in the field," Teufel's group leader and co-author José Aumentado said. "It's a very elegant experiment that will certainly have a lot of impact."
The drum, 20 micrometers in diameter and 100 nanometers thick, is embedded in a superconducting circuit designed so that the drum motion influences the microwaves bouncing inside a hollow enclosure known as an electromagnetic cavity. [...] NIST scientists previously cooled the quantum drum to its lowest-energy "ground state," or one-third of one quantum.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 14 2017, @10:58PM
Freeze the Terrorists until they Talk!!!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 15 2017, @12:57AM
What is the difference between "ordinary" and "non-ordinary" predictions? Does that phrase mean QM just got falsified and they came up with an ad hoc save?
(Score: 3, Informative) by maxwell demon on Sunday January 15 2017, @01:44AM
Looking at the abstract of the actual article, if I understand correctly it just means that the new technique gets below the limit of ordinary laser cooling, by using so-called squeezed light instead of ordinary laser light.
So it doesn't challenge the fundamentals of quantum mechanics. It just employs them in a clever way to achieve lower temperatures than was thought possible before.
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Sunday January 15 2017, @05:14AM
The verbiage does give it away somewhat: one third of a quantum, one fifth of a quantum - the original meaning of a quantum would seem to have been like the original meaning of "atomic" - indivisible... until we do divide it.
What, I wonder, are the constituent components of the Higgs Boson? The circum-lunar accelerator, planned for construction in 2235, will be attempting to answer just that...
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 3, Insightful) by FatPhil on Sunday January 15 2017, @02:04PM
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Sunday January 15 2017, @05:06PM
FFS, this is worse "science" than you get in O-level textbooks, this isn't just simplification, this is making shit up. And then stirring in a bowel-load of agency ("need") to add insult to injury.
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by Snotnose on Sunday January 15 2017, @01:46AM
they found my ex wife.
/ kidding
// the ex and I get along great
/// we just don't wanna live with each other anymore
When the dust settled America realized it was saved by a porn star.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 15 2017, @02:13AM
So, not so great.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 15 2017, @02:30AM
Colder than a witches tit in a brass bra?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 15 2017, @02:39AM
Colder than a fifth of a quantum. -1 Kelvin.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 15 2017, @02:22PM
Shouldn't that be "a fifth of a quantum = +0.20° Kelvin"?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by seeprime on Sunday January 15 2017, @06:52AM
One fifth of a quantum does not make sense to me. If the word quantum, in this sense, describes a discreet measurement unit, then the definition is wrong. I'm missing something here. If they haven't gotten down to absolute zero, the job isn't done yet. They'll keep getting closer and closer over the centuries, never to attain absolute zero as it should be unmeasurable since any equipment would stop working at 0K.
(Score: 2) by mhajicek on Sunday January 15 2017, @07:13AM
If a quantum of thermal energy is the minimum increment per atom, perhaps they are referring to a fraction of the atoms in the object at zero and the rest at one quantum.
The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 15 2017, @04:02PM
No, a quantum of thermal energy is the energy of one energy packet (quantum), i. e., the minimal amount or unit of energy, in layman's terms ... Wikipedia for help.
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 15 2017, @03:51PM
So, these are the times when hell freezes over, finally?