Thread Rating:
  • 0 Vote(s) - 0 Average
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5

Weird quantum effect that can turn matter invisible finally demonstrated

#1
C C Offline
https://www.livescience.com/gas-made-so-cold-invisible

INTRO: A weird quantum effect that was predicted decades ago has finally been demonstrated — if you make a cloud of gas cold and dense enough, you can make it invisible.

Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) used lasers to squeeze and cool lithium gas to densities and temperatures low enough that it scattered less light. If they can cool the cloud even closer to absolute zero (minus 459.67 degrees Fahrenheit, or minus 273.15 degrees Celsius), they say it will become completely invisible.

The bizarre effect is the first ever specific example of a quantum mechanical process called Pauli blocking.

"What we've observed is one very special and simple form of Pauli blocking, which is that it prevents an atom from what all atoms would naturally do: scatter light," study senior author Wolfgang Ketterle, a professor of physics at MIT, said in a statement. "This is the first clear observation that this effect exists, and it shows a new phenomenon in physics."

The new technique could be used to develop light-suppressing materials to prevent information loss in quantum computers.

Pauli blocking comes from the Pauli exclusion principle, first formulated by the famed Austrian physicist Wolfgang Pauli in 1925. Pauli posited that all so-called fermion particles — like protons, neutrons and electrons — with the same quantum state as each other cannot exist in the same space... (MORE)
Reply


Possibly Related Threads…
Thread Author Replies Views Last Post
  Debunked: delayed choice quantum eraser + What to know about quantum mechanics C C 5 211 Nov 4, 2021 01:17 AM
Last Post: confused2
  Weird matter made of partial particles + Search for grand unification of aromaticity C C 1 115 Jul 27, 2021 12:18 PM
Last Post: Zinjanthropos
  Explaining dark matter with more dimensions + Is there a hidden quantum reality? C C 0 103 Jul 9, 2021 05:33 PM
Last Post: C C
  "Human-scale" object reaches a quantum state + Quantum tunneling of particles is FTL C C 0 139 Jun 17, 2021 11:42 PM
Last Post: C C
  Anyons confirmed, quantum computing role + Quantum teleportation achieved C C 3 288 Dec 21, 2020 09:05 PM
Last Post: Zinjanthropos
  The quantum agent + Quantum dream time C C 0 279 Mar 8, 2020 09:13 PM
Last Post: C C
  Weird new form of carbon + New state of matter: a Cooper pair metal C C 0 217 Nov 17, 2019 01:25 AM
Last Post: C C
  How close to invisible can a mirror be? + 5 physics ideas that need to die C C 0 281 Oct 9, 2017 05:29 AM
Last Post: C C
  Rebuilding quantum theory + Dark energy from matter + Crossing quantum computer goal C C 2 793 Sep 8, 2017 01:29 AM
Last Post: RainbowUnicorn
  The quantum view of reality might not be so weird after all C C 3 562 Jun 27, 2017 04:34 AM
Last Post: RainbowUnicorn



Users browsing this thread: 1 Guest(s)