Access
To read this story in full you will need to login or make a payment (see right).
News and Views
Nature 445, 372-375 (25 January 2007) | doi:10.1038/445372a; Published online 24 January 2007
Open Innovation Challenges
-
Direct Molecular Detection of Proteins and Nucleic Acids
This Challenge is looking for novel approaches to protein and nucleic acid detection. This is an Id...
-
Optimizing Sub-cellular Localization Tags
The Seeker is looking for methods to optimize sub-cellular localization tags for protein expression....
- More Challenges
- Powered by:
nature jobs
Academic Neuropathologist
- University Hospitals Case Medical Center
- Cleveland, Ohio, USA
Chemical Process Engineer
- Praj Matrix - Praj Industries Ltd
- Pune, Maharashtra Pune-411021 India
Atomic physics: The social life of atoms
Maciej Lewenstein1
Abstract
In a trail-blazing experiment 50 years ago, it was observed that photons from far-off stars bunch up. But in fact there's a more general distinction among free, non-interacting particles: bosons bunch, and fermions 'antibunch'.
Counting individual quantum-mechanical objects such as the particles of a complex many-body system — whether photons, electrons, atoms or something else — is an efficient way to learn about the properties of both the system and of the particles being counted. Fifty years ago, Robert Hanbury Brown and Richard Twiss1 published the results of the paradigmatic experiment of this sort, in which they counted joint detections, in two separate detectors, of photons from distant stars.
- Maciej Lewenstein is at the Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats and the Institut de Ciències Fotòniques, 08869 Castelldefels (Barcelona), Spain.
Email: maciej.lewenstein@icfo.es
To read this story in full you will need to login or make a payment (see right).
MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS
These links to content published by NPG are automatically generated.
NEWS AND VIEWS
Quantum physics Spaced-out electronsNature News and Views (25 Jul 2002)
Pion interferometry of nuclear collisionsNature News and Views (22 Feb 1979)
See all 5 matches for News And ViewsRESEARCH
Comparison of the Hanbury Brown?Twiss effect for bosons and fermionsNature Letters to Editor (25 Jan 2007)
Quantum non-demolition detection of strongly correlated systemsNature Physics Article (01 Jan 2008)
See all 14 matches for Research