Scientists Capture Shadow Cast By 1 Atom

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Scientists Capture Shadow Cast By 1 Atom

Posted by timothy on Friday July 6, 2012 @03:30PM from the eve-unavailable-for-imaging dept.

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."

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RF Paul trap? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-07-06 15:33 · Score: -1, Troll

confined in an RF Paul trap
Ron Fucking Paul trap? That's what we'll get into if we ever elect this nut.
1. Re:RF Paul trap? by zill · 2012-07-06 15:43 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  Radio Frequency Paul trap, also known as an ion trap, is named after its inventor Wolfgang Paul. But thanks for derailing the discussion.
2. Re:RF Paul trap? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-07-06 17:57 · Score: -1
  
  Yeah cause things are going so great with obama and bush before him..
3. Re:RF Paul trap? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-07-06 19:17 · Score: -1
  
  But thanks for derailing the discussion.
  I would have appreciated it if that AC just wrote something along the lines of Hitler, Nazis in general, or an overstretched euthanasia analogy. That way, we needn't waste resources in downmodding, as our Godwin filters had surely marked it as such rubbish it definitely is. ;)
Previously Smallest Shadow by Anonymous Coward · 2012-07-06 15:45 · Score: -1

The previously smallest shadow was the one cast by Rush Limbaugh's dick. But it was too hard to measure because of the shadow cast by gut.
1. Re:Previously Smallest Shadow by Anonymous Coward · 2012-07-06 15:51 · Score: -1
  
  I would like to see Rush Limbaugh and Bear Grylls in an Octagon cage match.
2. Re:Previously Smallest Shadow by datavirtue · 2012-07-06 16:36 · Score: -1, Troll
  
  I was coming in here to bitch about the stupid Higgs Boson and now this crap, but you made me laugh and ruined my whole fucking mood. Seriously, the Higgs shit took the cake, I have no faith in the science community after seeing all these old dudes throwing their hands to the ceiling and crying (yes, fucking crying over a theory) over NOTHING! Jesus fuck, we're screwed.
  
  --
  I object to power without constructive purpose. --Spock
3. Re:Previously Smallest Shadow by datavirtue · 2012-07-06 16:59 · Score: -1, Flamebait
  
  Modded down? Really? Why, because you love the Higgs Boson too? I fail to see the significance. Call me dumb, but before you do, explain it to everyone. Yes, I read about the experiment, and the convulsive evidence is statistical readings. Forgive me if I don't orgasm all over the place. When you are explaining it, please tell me how this reflects on the observable reality we all experience.
  
  --
  I object to power without constructive purpose. --Spock
4. Re:Previously Smallest Shadow by aevan · 2012-07-06 18:06 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  Um, no duh they treat the Higgs-Boson like a religious event: it holds mass fer christ's sake!!
5. Re:Previously Smallest Shadow by Anonymous Coward · 2012-07-06 18:32 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  Basic Science. We may not be able to use it immediately, but when someone figures out what to do with it, a lot can be done.
  We have electricity. What is it made of?
  We have electrons. Can we control how it travels?
  We have computers. What would we do if we connected them?
  We have networks and internet. What can we do with this?
  We have Slashdot.
  Simply:
  "If I have seen further it is by standing on ye sholders of Giants [sic]." -- Newton
6. Re:Previously Smallest Shadow by instagib · 2012-07-06 22:18 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  I fail
  You got that right.
  
  Call me dumb
  No, because on this site we try to avoid redundant posts.
7. Re:Previously Smallest Shadow by jo_ham · 2012-07-06 23:00 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  I'm so sorry you have so little joy in your life that you can't appreciate it in others when they achieve something that took time, hard work and enhancing our understanding of science.
  I pity you that look with derision on people who sincerely enjoy what they do for a living and dare to show a little passion as the fruits of the labour start to show up.
  The fact that you think they're crying over "nothing" shows just how narrow minded you really are. It's a shame.
8. Re:Previously Smallest Shadow by TapeCutter · 2012-07-06 23:57 · Score: 1
  
  Envy is an ugly emotion.
  
  --
  And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
9. Re:Previously Smallest Shadow by schroedingers_hat · 2012-07-07 02:27 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  It's a damn sight more exciting, and memorable than one group of people being slightly better at kicking/throwing/chasing a ball than another group of people that evening -- and I've seen people cry, yell, shout, scream, and beat the shit out of anyone who doesn't agree with their reaction in response to sports.
10. Re:Previously Smallest Shadow by Phroggy · 2012-07-07 04:18 · Score: 1
  
  Redundant articles are still OK, though, right? ;-)
  
  --
  $x='S24;r)>63/* h@<5+oZ)32"5cz';$me='phroggy'x$];
  $x=~y+ -xz+\0-Tx+;print$_^chop$me for split'',$x;
11. Re:Previously Smallest Shadow by mcgrew · 2012-07-07 05:12 · Score: 1
  
  Newton wasn't the first to say that.
  the metaphor was first recorded in the twelfth century and attributed to Bernard of Chartres.[1] It was famously uttered by seventeenth-century scientist Isaac Newton (see below), as the statement "If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants"
  
  --
  Free Martian Whores!
12. Re:Previously Smallest Shadow by datavirtue · 2012-07-07 09:09 · Score: 0
  
  So, you don't know?
  
  --
  I object to power without constructive purpose. --Spock
13. Re:Previously Smallest Shadow by datavirtue · 2012-07-07 09:29 · Score: 1
  
  Electricity: Net charge state relayed from one atom to the next. Getting deeper than that? Good luck, our perception plays a big part in how we gauge truth and we cannot perceive this level of existence.
  Just like the Higgs Boson. It is right up there with basic photon experiments, interesting I guess, but not nearly as practical. The whole proceedings of announcements and the conference and the comments from these people flipping out over this "discovery" smacks of a cult and is way too emotional for the practical implications (zero). Grown men crying and shit about statistical readings that "they we're really hoping for," all hinging around what is a probably a politically charged project (VERY expensive Hadron Collider). My bullshit meter is going off is all, can't help it. In a time of cutbacks the Collider needs to maintain funding and notoriety--the thing cost a freaking fortune and takes a lot of money to maintain and run. I'm just questioning the value of this discovery--is the HC required to reproduce? For some strange reason people want this to be a big deal when it PROBABLY is not. For one, they assume a "big bang," which I'm not ready to assume is true because it could lead us down the wrong path of reasoning. I'm just not going to buy that this is some major discovery, until I see a practical application, just because the science community wants it to be so. As of right now, the Higgs Boson only fills in one blank in a theory, or model, with many blanks yet left.
  
  --
  I object to power without constructive purpose. --Spock
14. Re:Previously Smallest Shadow by Anonymous Coward · 2012-07-07 14:22 · Score: 0
  
  Oh right we should've smacked that Einstein jew and have him done some accounting, when he discovered something as impratical as general relativity.
15. Re:Previously Smallest Shadow by Anonymous Coward · 2012-07-07 15:02 · Score: 0
  
  Are you sure you belong here? Or are you just here to push your politics?
atom bomb, shmatom momb by ruggerboy · 2012-07-06 15:53 · Score: 2, Funny

Can't wait for the first atom photo bomb.
1. Re:atom bomb, shmatom momb by NoNonAlphaCharsHere · 2012-07-06 17:47 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  Looks like you didn't notice that Einsteinium atom in the background sticking its tongue out.
2. Re:atom bomb, shmatom momb by eltaco · 2012-07-06 23:08 · Score: 1
  
  I'm just glad it didn't blink :-)
  
  --
  It's not about fate, it's about character.
  there be no shelter here, the frontline is everywhere!
3. Re:atom bomb, shmatom momb by bobzieruncle · 2012-07-07 18:34 · Score: 1
  
  When you see it, you will shit bricks! :D
Bill Gates' Money by Anonymous Coward · 2012-07-06 15:59 · Score: -1

Let's redistribute his money. All of it. It's the moral thing to do. Take the bait, Randroid bitches....TAKE IT!
The important question is... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-07-06 16:00 · Score: 0

Do I look fat with this electron?
1. Re:The important question is... by ackthpt · 2012-07-06 16:10 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  Do I look fat with this electron?
  No, but you might want to shed a few Higgs-Bosons.
  
  --
  
  A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
2. Re:The important question is... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-07-06 22:30 · Score: 1
  
  Not at all, I can feel the attraction all the way over here. Maybe that's just me being positive..
3. Re:The important question is... by jo_ham · 2012-07-06 23:01 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  Do I look fat with this electron?
  Negative.
Well, SURE it was cool; but by 93+Escort+Wagon · 2012-07-06 16:01 · Score: 3, Funny

The atom was Jumbonium.

--
#DeleteChrome
1. Re:Well, SURE it was cool; but by Anonymous Coward · 2012-07-06 16:09 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  For those interested, it was actually - Ytterbium
Use you imagination, Mr. Scott by Anonymous Coward · 2012-07-06 16:21 · Score: 0

Must shadows always be cast?
Why not deluxize a shadow, just for a change.
1. Re:Use you imagination, Mr. Scott by Anonymous Coward · 2012-07-06 18:00 · Score: 0
  
  I prefer to forge them.
Scientists Capture Shadow by Anonymous Coward · 2012-07-06 16:22 · Score: 0

AHA! Faster than Peter Pan!
Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of atoms? by PTBarnum · 2012-07-06 16:24 · Score: 3, Funny

Will the evil scientist RF Paul succeed in trapping our hero? Tune in next week!
Re:Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of atom by datavirtue · 2012-07-06 16:38 · Score: 0

It's officlai /. is durnk. Good times!

--
I object to power without constructive purpose. --Spock
Schrodinger's cat by Grayhand · 2012-07-06 16:40 · Score: 3, Funny

Oddly enough the shadow resembled a cat's paw. A relieved cat insisted he wasn't responsible for changing the results of the experiment and was unconcerned about the gun pointed towards his head throughout the test.
Groundhog day by Anonymous Coward · 2012-07-06 17:14 · Score: 0

I was hoping for some double-slit experiment type revelation so we could have our own groundhog day.
1. Re:Groundhog day by Sulphur · 2012-07-06 20:11 · Score: 1
  
  I was hoping for some double-slit experiment type revelation so we could have our own groundhog day.
  The groundhog slit our hands twice each time we tried to grab one. Should we try gloves?
2. Re:Groundhog day by VortexCortex · 2012-07-06 21:09 · Score: 1
  
  I was hoping for some double-slit experiment...
  Well, that would have been nice except it was an experiment involving a single atom, not a pair of hypothetical lesbians.
3. Re:Groundhog day by mcgrew · 2012-07-07 05:23 · Score: 1
  
  Like this?
  
  --
  Free Martian Whores!
Re:Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of atom by fostware · 2012-07-06 17:25 · Score: 1

It'll be an Extravaganza!!
Oh, wait. That's RU Paul

--
"We know what happens to people who stay in the middle of the road. They get run over." - Aneurin Bevan
Who cares? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-07-06 22:32 · Score: -1

This was done by a bunch of foreign nationals and not in America
1. Re:Who cares? by jo_ham · 2012-07-06 23:04 · Score: 1
  
  This was done by a bunch of foreign nationals and not in America
  Yeah, and they told me they were going to use it to permanently cast the 9/11 Ground Zero memorial in shadow.
Well that's just great. by Anonymous Coward · 2012-07-06 23:06 · Score: 2, Funny

We finally get our first actual photograph of an atom, and it ends up being one of those artsy-fartsy monochromatic photos of a shadow. Best viewed while eating a croissant, or perhaps sipping champagne.
It's small by iplayfast · 2012-07-07 00:13 · Score: 1

but it casts a big shadow....
Sorry just had to say.
Cool takaway by l0ungeb0y · 2012-07-07 04:58 · Score: 1

"You cannot see anything smaller than an atom using visible light"
-- what an informative and cool bit of trivia. I did not know you could see atoms in the visible light spectrum.
Re:Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of atom by mcgrew · 2012-07-07 05:06 · Score: 1

It's officlai /. is durnk.
You drank slashdot?

--
Free Martian Whores!
Shopped by Delarth799 · 2012-07-07 05:42 · Score: 3, Funny

That looks shopped.. you can tell by the pixels.
1. Re:Shopped by Anonymous Coward · 2012-07-07 12:53 · Score: 1
  
  That looks shopped.. you can tell by the pixel.
  FTFY
For those who didn't RTFA by GameboyRMH · 2012-07-09 08:32 · Score: 1

It looks like the sun's asshole :-P

--
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel