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Quantum physics

Watching an atom tunnel

Nature volume 409, pages 471–472 (2001)Cite this article

Physicists have managed to watch individual hydrogen atoms move on metal surfaces at very low temperatures — in defiance of classical physics.

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Figure 1: Hydrogen atoms on a copper surface can quantum tunnel at low temperatures.

WILSON HO

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  1. Department of Physics and the Frederick Seitz Materials Research Laboratory, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, 61801, Illinois, USA

    Ali Yazdani

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  1. Ali Yazdani
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Correspondence to Ali Yazdani.

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Yazdani, A. Watching an atom tunnel. Nature 409, 471–472 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/35054175

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