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Scientists Record Quantum Behavior of Electrons Via Laser Lights
An anonymous reader writes in with news about a breakthrough in recording quantum behavior in electrons. A group of researchers has said that they have come up with a new method to record and control electron behavior at the quantum mechanical level. The research team, headed by the scientists at the University of Chicago, used laser lights in ultra-fast pulses for the experiment. The laser light controlled the quantum state of electrons. It contained inside nanoscale defects in a diamond. The researchers observed changes in that electron over a time period. They focused on the quantum mechanical property of electrons known as spin. Lead author David Awschalom, a molecular engineering professor at a university in Chicago, said, "These defects have attracted great interest of the scientists over the past decade. They provide a test-bed system for developing semiconductor quantum bits as well as nanoscale sensors."
Now just combine this, in some way, with that new 4.4 trillion FPS camera some other scientists recently invented.
We now can tell exactly how fast this electron is going. Unfortunately, now we can't find it.
Or does anybody else feel like the summary came straight from the Simple English Wikipedia?
Bugrit! Millenium hand and shrimp!
Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't the act of observing the quantum behavior of the electron necessarily change it? I thought one of the fuzzy things about anything "quantum", other than "quantum bullshit", was that its state/behavior is not finite unless observed directly, thus causing it to collapse into a specific state? Or do I have that wrong?
Anyone else find the term "laser light" to be odd, or at least redundant? Last time I checked, the "L" in laser stood for "Light". It's a bit like calling an ATM an "ATM machine", or when TV's Mr. Monk said, "it made me LOL out loud."
Electrons have 'spin'. Electrons also have an electric field. Do electrons have a magnetic field? - Yes they do. An electron's magnetic field is its 'spin'.
Why even call it 'spin'? Back in the day the function of magnetism was explained with the 'turtles all the way down' analogy of 'elementary magnets' meaning they didn't have a clue and possibly did not want to admit ignorance.
Today we know that this elementary magnet is the property of an electron spinning on an axis just like a planet does. It can not spin faster or slower, but it can turn to any alignment. When a bunch of electrons line up their axis of spin in this way (and maintain their position), what we get is of course a proper magnet. - Magnetism is therefore a quantum effect on a macroscopic scale.
Magnets interact with bosons, which in lasers do their thing by depleting entropy so that space is bent, aligning the emission of photonic bosons. Emission of photons from electrons is usually in a random direction, but lasers do things differently. - Magnets attract or repulse by bending space because their homogeneous ferromagnetic material locally depletes entropy. The Higgs particle, a boson famous for is ability to cause gravity, bends space too.
The old vestiges of ignorance persist however, among popular press and celebrity scientists who have followers not because of their theories but because of their charisma. It's eppur si muove all over again, though he Vatican did admit they made a mistake after 350 years...
All rites reversed 2010
Isn't it assumed that the state changes on observation?