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In a Bose-Einstein condensate, the bosons within a material have such low energy that they all occupy the same state, acting as a single particle. This allows quantum properties to be seen on a macroscopic scale. A Bose-Einstein condensate was created in a lab for the first time in 1995, at a temperature of a mere 170 nanokelvin.Now, let’s look at what happens in a typical leaf during photosynthesis.Plants need three basic ingredients to make their own food — carbon dioxide, water, and light. A pigment called chlorophyll absorbs energy from light at red and blue wavelengths. It reflects light...

Physicists Observe New Phase in Quantum Condensate of Light Apr 2, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro Physicists at the University of Bonn have experimentally observed a new, previously unknown phase in the photon Bose-Einstein condensate. The Bose-Einstein condensate is a gas of atoms so dense and cold that their matter waves lose their individuality and condense into a ‘superatom wave.’ It was predicted in the 1920s by Satyendra Nath Bose and Albert Einstein and was eventually created in the lab in the 1990s at the University of Colorado Boulder, MIT and Rice University using laser cooling and evaporative cooling techniques....

The concept of time travel has always captured the imagination of physicists and laypersons alike. But is it really possible? Of course it is. We're doing it right now, aren't we? We are all traveling into the future one second at a time. But that was not what you were thinking. Can we travel much further into the future? Absolutely. If we could travel close to the speed of light, or in the proximity of a black hole, time would slow down enabling us to travel arbitrarily far into the future. The really interesting question is whether we can travel...

For the first time, scientists at IBM Research have demonstrated a complex quantum mechanical phenomenon known as Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC), using a luminescent polymer (plastic) similar to the materials in light emitting displays used in many of today's smartphones. Applications could include energy-efficient lasers and optical switches, critical components for future computer systems processing Big Data Quantum Phenomenon Could Mean Breakthrough for Exascale Systems This discovery has potential applications in developing novel optoelectronic devices including energy-efficient lasers and ultra-fast optical switches – critical components for powering future computer systems to process massive Big Data workloads. The use of a...

Enlarge ImageSolid evidence? An ultracold gas of rubidium atoms shows a crystalline-like arrangement of magnetic regions, making a possible supersolid material. Credit: M. Vengalattore et al., arXiv.org (24 January 2009) PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA--Five years ago, researchers in the United States saw the first evidence of a "supersolid," a bizarre state of matter in which crystals of ultracold helium could flow like a liquid without viscosity. But the evidence for supersolidity in helium has not been ironclad. Now, there is a new contender for the supersolidity claim. At the American Physical Society meeting here today, Dan Stamper-Kurn, a physicist at the...

An exotic quantum state that had previously appeared only under conditions of astonishing cold has made its room-temperature debut, reports an international team of scientists. In related experiments, other researchers have produced a similar state in different, still-chilly materials but claim that their experiments will lead to room-temperature versions as well. The new findings, unveiled in independent reports in the Sept. 28 Nature, reveal a bizarre new branch of an already exotic family of quantum states of matter known as Bose-Einstein condensates. Previously produced Bose-Einstein condensates, which form only at temperatures near absolute zero, include a superfluid of liquid helium...