Seeing atoms with the naked eye
Microscope? No, Quantum Optics.
An image of a single atom of the metal strontium suspended in electric fields has won the 2018 Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council science photography competition.
Extremely still strontium atoms like this one are used in atomic clocks. Each tick of one of these hyper-precise clocks is determined by the frequency of radiation emitted when electrons around an atom change energy state, https://www.newscientist.com/article/2161094-a-single-atom-is-visible-to-the-naked-eye-in-this-stunning-photo/.
“Teaching quantum mechanics can be challenging and doing so in a hands-on manner is even more so. In partnership with the Swiss Science Center Technorama, we are developing an exhibit, which will allow members of the public, teachers, and students to experience a truly quantum mechanical system — single atoms — firsthand. We use barium ions, whose emission wavelength of 493 nm is nearly at the peak of the spectral sensitivity of the human eye, confined in a linear Paul trap that has been optimized for optical access and photon collection efficiency.” https://tiqi.ethz.ch/research/science-communication.html.
The exhibit has been open to the public since January 2022, with over 1000 visitors in its first month of operation. Further testing and design modifications will take place until August 2022 to achieve a stand-alone “Atomic Experience”. This work is supported internally by ETH and by an SNF Agora grant.
The video is in German, but one can have a grasp of what the TRUE lab looks like and see the trapped ions live. At Technorama, the ions will be visible to the naked eye and simultaneously magnified on a screen thanks to a live broadcast via a CMOS camera.
© Copyright 2022–2023, Trieste Quantum Register Team.
Originally published at http://triestequantumregister.wordpress.com on April 15, 2023.
