"Atoms in a BEC behave like a single macroscopic matter wave that extends across the ensemble, and the spatial resolution of the ion microscope is high enough to probe phenomena on a scale similar to the length at which the matter wave changes." -- 
Coming soon: Super Crazy Glue.
"Atoms in a BEC behave like a single macroscopic matter wave that extends across the ensemble, and the spatial resolution of the ion microscope is high enough to probe phenomena on a scale similar to the length at which the matter wave changes." --
> then exciting a nearby rubidium atom <
I don’t know about everyone else, but I’m firmly against exciting rubidium. With all that’s going on the the world today, rubidium is agitated enough as it is.
Zuber adds that in the longer term, the ion microscope could also be used to study the dynamics of Bose-Einstein condensates ...
Ions inside: The experimental chamber. The ion microscope extends to the top of the image frame and beyond. (Courtesy: PI 5, Nicolas Zuber)
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This is hugh!
A new bond - James Bond Jr.?
I wonder if I should ask to have my high school Chemistry final exam regraded in light of this.
The ability to “see” and manipulate single atoms is remarkable.
That’s an awesome rig. Leak detecting that would take more than one lunch hour
Dog poo on the bottom of ones shoe? ;)
The "state selector" they invented to sort a beam of silver atoms into two separate spin directions was used later to discover phenomena that would lead to MRI imaging, atomic clocks, and in the 1950s to create the first MASER, the demonstration of which led to the invention of the laser.
Bose-Einstein condensates, with their startling and outlandish properties (like exhibiting an index of refraction measured in the tens of millions), will undoubtedly be the source of astonishing commercial opportunities, although it may well take decades for these to emerge. They will in effect do for matter what the laser did for light; lasers add trillions of dollars of value every year to human civilization.
A technology of this scale takes a long time to develop. For comparison, I cite the example of semiconductors. The first hints that interesting things were happening at the surface of impure crystals arose in the early days of radio, with "crystal sets" that snatched demodulated AM radio signals from the air without any external power; these used a fine, sharp metal wire in contact with a crystal of Galina (lead sulfide). The current-rectification effect that made this possible was first observed in the late 1800s, but it took more than fifty years to turn it from a laboratory curiosity to a hobby, and then to a theory, and finally into a product (the transistor) which led to a whole range of products (including the microprocessor) the development of which is still undergoing rapid evolution today, nearly 150 years later. Tens of thousands of people worldwide make their livings directly producing semiconductors, and human civilization as a whole has been transformed and enriched by this technology.
BECs could be even bigger, but will take a long time to make it from laboratory to commercial application. Who will be the Shockley, Bardeen and Bratton of BECs? Who will be the Robert Noyce and Gordon Moore of this technology? My children may live to know their names. I hope there is still an America when they make themselves known.
These experiments happen at temperatures colder than any place in the Natural Universe. At such cold temperatures the effects of thermal vibrations are reduced to the point that the wierd quantum nature of matter itself is dominant.
So much for the rumors that the newest Bond was going to be a black lesbian Person Of Maximum Entitlement.
I don't know much about this stuff, but is this kinda like genital mutilation surgery?