Physicists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have "flash-frozen" a flat crystal of 150 beryllium ions (electrically charged atoms), opening new possibilities for simulating magnetism at the quantum scale and sensing signals from mysterious dark matter.
Many researchers have tried for decades to chill vibrating objects that are large enough to be visible to the naked eye to the point where they have the minimum motion allowed by quantum mechanics, the theory that governs the behavior of matter at the atomic scale. The colder the better, because it makes the device more sensitive, more stable and less distorted, and therefore, more useful for practical applications. Until now, however, researchers have only been able to reduce a few types of vibrations.
In the NIST experiment, magnetic and electric fields cooled and trapped the ions so that they formed a disc less than 250 micrometers (millionths of a meter) in diameter. The disc is considered a crystal because the ions are arranged in a regularly repeating pattern.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by opinionated_science on Saturday February 23 2019, @07:48PM
In actual fact, some experiments were done with proteins in the 70's looking for quantum effects. Quite simply, the size of some complexes is large enough that the atom "visibilty" (i.e. the apparent location limited by Heisenberg theorem.)
So this is a nice experiment - we can probably do a lot more if we had gallons (!) of supercooled helium. It has a great advantage over nitrogen - it is a superfluid with an extremely high thermal conductivity.
For living systems e.g. a cell , in principle it should be able to "gel" the water and prevent ice formation.
Imagine looking inside a eukaryotic cell....!!!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 23 2019, @08:15PM
Heck... All they had to do was have my wife look at it. Colder than a witches tit in a brass bra.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 24 2019, @11:52PM
I've already got one.
It's very nice.