Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

MIT Physicists Build World's First Fermion Microscope

Posted by samzenpus on from the all-the-better-to-see-you-with dept.

Zothecula writes: Researchers working at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) claim to have created a method to better observe fermions – the sub-atomic building blocks of matter – by constructing a microscope capable of viewing them in groups of a thousand at a time. A laser technique is used to herd the fermions into a viewing area and then freeze them in place so all of the captured particles can be imaged simultaneously.

2 of 31 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Hmmmm ... by Guy+Harris · · Score: 4, Interesting

    A laser technique is used to herd the fermions

    So ... do fermions most resemble cows, or cats? I'm confused.

    Well, fermions are called that because they exhibit Fermi-Dirac statistics, so they're arguably more like cats than cows.

  2. Re:Hmmmm ... by gdshaw · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Fermions => cats

    Bosons => cows

    (Bosons can be herded into the same quantum state, fermions cannot on account of the Pauli exclusion principle.)