Scientists Capture Shadow Cast By 1 Atom

slew writes "Scientist at Griffith University have shown the first absorption image of a single atom isolated in a vacuum. A single atomic ion was confined in an RF Paul trap and the absorption imaged at near wavelength resolution with a phase Fresnel lens. They predict this absorption imaging technique should prove useful in quantum information processing and using the minimum amount of illumination for bio-imaging of light-sensitive samples. Here's a pointer to the paper."

Comments

Re:RF Paul trap?

[zill]

Radio Frequency Paul trap, also known as an ion trap, is named after its inventor Wolfgang Paul. But thanks for derailing the discussion.

Re:Well, SURE it was cool; but

[Anonymous Coward]

For those interested, it was actually - Ytterbium