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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."
Radio Frequency Paul trap, also known as an ion trap, is named after its inventor Wolfgang Paul. But thanks for derailing the discussion.
Can't wait for the first atom photo bomb.
The atom was Jumbonium.
#DeleteChrome
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
Will the evil scientist RF Paul succeed in trapping our hero? Tune in next week!
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.
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
Um, no duh they treat the Higgs-Boson like a religious event: it holds mass fer christ's sake!!
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
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?
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.
I fail
You got that right.
Call me dumb
No, because on this site we try to avoid redundant posts.
Not at all, I can feel the attraction all the way over here. Maybe that's just me being positive..
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.
Do I look fat with this electron?
Negative.
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.
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.
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.
but it casts a big shadow....
Sorry just had to say.
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.
Redundant articles are still OK, though, right? ;-)
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"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.
It's officlai /. is durnk.
You drank slashdot?
Free Martian Whores!
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!
Like this?
Free Martian Whores!
That looks shopped.. you can tell by the pixels.
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
It looks like the sun's asshole :-P
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel