Bose–Einstein condensates (BECs) are clouds of ultracold atoms that behave as a single, giant quantum object. Physicists often use a combination of laser light and magnetic fields to trap and then cool a little blob of atoms to near absolute zero.
Malcolm Boshier and his colleagues at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico have figured out how to 'paint' a BEC using two lasers. The first traps the atoms on a flat canvas; the second acts as a paintbrush, scanning a desired shape and cooling it until a BEC forms. The group can make a BEC of rubidium atoms in any shape (example pictured), for use in fundamental studies or quantum information processing.
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Quantum physics: Atomic painting. Nature 459, 142 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/459142d
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/459142d
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