Magnetic microchips to process information
The number of transistors on a silicon chip has doubled every 18 months, but many observers believe that semiconductor technology will reach its limit in a decade or so. This has prompted the developm...
Molecules made in a Bose-Einstein Condensate
Molecules are poor candidates for the standard techniques used to create Bose-Einstein condensates because of their complicated internal vibrational and rotational structures. But by creating the mole...
Quantum theory survives three-photon test
The conflict between quantum theory and local realism can be traced back to the work of Schrödinger and Einstein, Podolsky and Rosen in 1935. It remained a philosophical matter until the 1960s wh...
Measuring decoherence in real time
Quantum particles such as electrons can be in a superposition of two or more quantum states. This means that an electron can, for instance, be in two places at the same time. However, classical object...
Solitons formed in Bose–Einstein condensate
Bose–Einstein condensates are trapped atoms that are cooled to low temperatures and occupy the same quantum state. They are ideal for studying and manipulating quantum effects such as solitons a...
Astronomy and physics dominate Science top ten
Confirmation that the universe is flat – expanding at just the right rate not to collapse – came from measurements of ripples in the cosmic background radiation left over from the big bang...
The decay route to teleportation
In quantum teleportation the quantum state of an object held by “Alice” is instantaneously sent to “Bob”. The new technique works by having two optical cavities that both conta...
Helium beam moves into sharper focus
Physicists have tried for years to develop a beam of atoms that could be focused as easily as electrons and photons. The helium atoms are fired at 1 km/s through a micron diameter nozzle past a set of...
Electron transfer made easy
Electron transfer in protein results from quantum tunnelling between reduction- oxidation (redox) centres. “There’s a widely accepted idea that electrons get from one redox centre to anoth...
Condensates in a whirl
Physicists have been attempting to create a vortex in a dilute Bose condensate since these systems were first created in 1995. In principle, atomic condensates are ideal systems in which to study vort...
