| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"stoney" |
| Date: |
07 Jan 2006 10:11:22 PM |
| Object: |
Physicists Capture Small Numbers Of Atoms In Laser Traps |
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/01/060105091044.htm
Source: University of Texas at Austin
Date: 2006-01-07
URL: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/01/060105091044.htm
Physicists Capture Small Numbers Of Atoms In Laser Traps
Like bakers measuring the exact same amount of flour every time they
made bread, physicists at The University of Texas at Austin have used a
laser trap to consistently capture and measure the same small number of
atoms.
Dr. Mark Raizen, Sid W. Richardson Foundation Regents Chair in Physics,
and his colleagues at the Center for Nonlinear Dynamics have been able
to repeatedly capture as few as sixty atoms in a box made of lasers.
They report their work in the Dec. 30, 2005 issue of Physical Review
Letters.
Raizen's ability to measure atoms with great accuracy places scientists
one step closer to assessing and controlling single atoms and realizing
quantum computing. Quantum computers will use the power of atoms to
store information and make ultra-fast calculations.
Raizen's work is also the beginning of a new field--quantum atom
statistics.
"Some work closes a chapter on a problem in science, and some work opens
a new chapter," says Raizen. "I view this as opening a new chapter
because the study of quantum statistics of atoms has enormous potential
for future discoveries."
Raizen and his colleagues created what's called a squeezed number state,
where the number of atoms captured in a laser trap was held nearly
constant. To reach the atomic number squeezing, the physicists made a
box out of sheets of laser light. The laser box had no top--just four
sides and a bottom--and held a fixed number of atoms like a cup holding
ping-pong balls.
"Suppose we have a trap that works like a cup," explains Raizen, "and I
start putting ping-pong balls in the cup. I reach a point where I can't
put any more balls in without them spilling over. So there's a hard
cut-off on the number that can fit in the cup. That's the mechanism we
use, only our cup is made out of light."
The other difference, of course, is that Raizen and his colleagues used
atoms instead of balls.
In the reported set of experiments, a cloud of Rubidium-87 atoms was
trapped and super-cooled into a Bose-Einstein condensate so that they
would occupy the ground state of the trap. A Bose-Einstein condensate is
a new state of matter that is reached near the absolute zero of
temperature, -459.67 Fahrenheit, and typically holds about one million
atoms.
To decrease the atom number to as few as sixty atoms, the researchers
very slowly lowered the sides of their laser box, which was about two
micrometers (two millionths of a meter) across, and the atoms fell out
over the lip.
"Every time we lowered the lip a little more, some atoms left the box
until finally we reached the level we were happy with and we counted,"
says Raizen.
The researchers were able to repeatedly trap and count close to the same
number of atoms each time with great accuracy, and Raizen says these are
"the first measurements of quantum atom statistics by counting atoms."
The small remaining fluctuations in number could be accounted for by
taking into account small changes in the laser box's dimensions.
Raizen has dubbed the new concept of the Bose-Einstein condensate
leaking out over the top of the trap "quantum evaporation," because the
atoms escaped the laser trap like water molecules evaporating out of a
glass.
Since the publication of the paper, Raizen says that he and his
colleagues have been able to accurately measure and trap as few as
twenty atoms. They are aiming for one or two by making the box even
smaller.
Editor's Note: The original news release can be found here.
This story has been adapted from a news release issued by University of
Texas at Austin.
--
Fundies and trolls are cordially invited to
shove a wooden cross up their arses and rotate
at a high rate of speed. I trust you'll
be 'blessed' with a cornucopia of splinters.
.
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| User: "Even nicer guy" |
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| Title: Re: Physicists Capture Small Numbers Of Atoms In Laser Traps |
08 Jan 2006 03:19:37 AM |
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"stoney" <stoney@the.net> wrote in message
news:i541s1lqulmpadji226clb5f50rnt42i2q@4ax.com...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/01/060105091044.htm
Source: University of Texas at Austin
Date: 2006-01-07
URL: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/01/060105091044.htm
Physicists Capture Small Numbers Of Atoms In Laser Traps
Interesting but what the hell has this got to do with Atheism!
G
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| User: "stoney" |
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| Title: Re: Physicists Capture Small Numbers Of Atoms In Laser Traps |
08 Jan 2006 05:11:57 PM |
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On Sun, 8 Jan 2006 22:19:37 +1300, "Even nicer guy" <FU2@yahoo.co.zpr>
wrote in alt.atheism
"stoney" <stoney@the.net> wrote in message
news:i541s1lqulmpadji226clb5f50rnt42i2q@4ax.com...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/01/060105091044.htm
Source: University of Texas at Austin
Date: 2006-01-07
URL: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/01/060105091044.htm
Physicists Capture Small Numbers Of Atoms In Laser Traps
Interesting but what the hell has this got to do with Atheism!
Everything. No ones urging you to read any post.
Read it or not. [shrug]
--
Fundies and trolls are cordially invited to
shove a wooden cross up their arses and rotate
at a high rate of speed. I trust you'll
be 'blessed' with a cornucopia of splinters.
.
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| User: "Uncle Buck" |
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| Title: Re: Physicists Capture Small Numbers Of Atoms In Laser Traps |
08 Jan 2006 08:32:40 PM |
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On Sun, 08 Jan 2006 15:11:57 -0800, stoney <stoney@the.net> wrote:
On Sun, 8 Jan 2006 22:19:37 +1300, "Even nicer guy" <FU2@yahoo.co.zpr>
wrote in alt.atheism
"stoney" <stoney@the.net> wrote in message
news:i541s1lqulmpadji226clb5f50rnt42i2q@4ax.com...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/01/060105091044.htm
Source: University of Texas at Austin
Date: 2006-01-07
URL: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/01/060105091044.htm
Physicists Capture Small Numbers Of Atoms In Laser Traps
Interesting but what the hell has this got to do with Atheism!
Everything. No ones urging you to read any post.
Read it or not. [shrug]
....and frankly, it's not a post about gods - what could be more on-topic to
atheism than that? ;-) Thanks for the post, Stoney, I found it fascinating.
:-)
Seriously, I'm surprised any time someone wonders what the study of reality has
to do with atheism. Seems like a no-brainer. :-\
--
L8r,
Uncle Buck
aa#88
BAAWA Knight
"The gap betwixt civility and barbarism is the width of a tooth."
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| User: "stoney" |
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| Title: Re: Physicists Capture Small Numbers Of Atoms In Laser Traps |
09 Jan 2006 05:25:38 PM |
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On Sun, 08 Jan 2006 21:32:40 -0500, Uncle Buck <UncleBuck@SpamMeNot.com>
wrote in alt.atheism
On Sun, 08 Jan 2006 15:11:57 -0800, stoney <stoney@the.net> wrote:
On Sun, 8 Jan 2006 22:19:37 +1300, "Even nicer guy" <FU2@yahoo.co.zpr>
wrote in alt.atheism
"stoney" <stoney@the.net> wrote in message
news:i541s1lqulmpadji226clb5f50rnt42i2q@4ax.com...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/01/060105091044.htm
Source: University of Texas at Austin
Date: 2006-01-07
URL: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/01/060105091044.htm
Physicists Capture Small Numbers Of Atoms In Laser Traps
Interesting but what the hell has this got to do with Atheism!
Everything. No ones urging you to read any post.
Read it or not. [shrug]
...and frankly, it's not a post about gods - what could be more on-topic to
atheism than that? ;-) Thanks for the post, Stoney, I found it fascinating.
:-)
You're welcome. I find that stuff fascinating as well. I'm a retired
electron pusher. That stuff's wilder than hell.
On the same aircraft I was dealing with mechanical tuned, rock bound,
air cooled, and heavy equipment along with transistorized stuff with no
moving parts and satellite communication and other '***** Tracy' stuff.
Seriously, I'm surprised any time someone wonders what the study of reality has
to do with atheism. Seems like a no-brainer. :-\
Different strokes for different folks. It's not as if the subject line
was deceptive.
--
Fundies and trolls are cordially invited to
shove a wooden cross up their arses and rotate
at a high rate of speed. I trust you'll
be 'blessed' with a cornucopia of splinters.
.
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| User: "johac" |
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| Title: Re: Physicists Capture Small Numbers Of Atoms In Laser Traps |
08 Jan 2006 02:51:36 AM |
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In article <i541s1lqulmpadji226clb5f50rnt42i2q@4ax.com>,
stoney <stoney@the.net> wrote:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/01/060105091044.htm
Source: University of Texas at Austin
Date: 2006-01-07
URL: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/01/060105091044.htm
Physicists Capture Small Numbers Of Atoms In Laser Traps
Like bakers measuring the exact same amount of flour every time they
made bread, physicists at The University of Texas at Austin have used a
laser trap to consistently capture and measure the same small number of
atoms.
Dr. Mark Raizen, Sid W. Richardson Foundation Regents Chair in Physics,
and his colleagues at the Center for Nonlinear Dynamics have been able
to repeatedly capture as few as sixty atoms in a box made of lasers.
Physicists never cease to amaze me.
--
John Hachmann aa #1782
"Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities"
-Voltaire
Contact - Throw a .net over the .com
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| User: "Michael Gray" |
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| Title: Re: Physicists Capture Small Numbers Of Atoms In Laser Traps |
08 Jan 2006 02:36:09 AM |
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On Sat, 07 Jan 2006 20:11:22 -0800, stoney <stoney@the.net> wrote:
- Refer: <i541s1lqulmpadji226clb5f50rnt42i2q@4ax.com>
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/01/060105091044.htm
Source: University of Texas at Austin
Date: 2006-01-07
URL: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/01/060105091044.htm
Physicists Capture Small Numbers Of Atoms In Laser Traps
Like bakers measuring the exact same amount of flour every time they
made bread, physicists at The University of Texas at Austin have used a
laser trap to consistently capture and measure the same small number of
atoms.
:
What an imbecilic simile.
"Like bakers measuring the exact same amount of flour"???
The reporter should be jailed in Guantanamo for terrorist offenses
againt science, and English.
Torture is not good enough for them.
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