Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Quantum physics

Interactions propel a magnetic dance

Nature volume 546, pages 481–482 (2017)Cite this article

Subjects

A combination of leading-edge techniques has enabled interaction-induced magnetic motion to be observed for pairs of ultracold atoms — a breakthrough in the development of models of complex quantum behaviour. See Letter p.519

Particle interactions have a defining role in many properties of materials, but are often difficult to incorporate into a theoretical framework. Although theories that omit these interactions can describe some behaviours, a full understanding of a material can come only from a complete account of the system, including its interactions. Interaction-based phenomena such as magnetism are poorly understood at the microscopic level, and so the ability to study them using the bottom-up approaches offered by ultracold quantum gas experiments holds considerable promise. On page 519, Tai et al.1 report such an experiment in which pairs of atoms exhibit chiral motion — movement that has a particular 'handedness' — only as a result of the system's interactions. The work is an early step towards the simulation of non-trivial many-body quantum systems, which will allow exotic condensed-matter phenomena to be studied.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Observing the effects of interactions between two particles in an effective magnetic field.

Notes

  1. See all news & views

References

  1. Tai, M. E. et al. Nature 546, 519–523 (2017).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Bakr, W. S., Gillen, J. I., Peng, A., Fölling, S. & Greiner, M. Nature 462, 74–77 (2009).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Harper, P. G. Proc. Phys. Soc. A 68, 874–878 (1955).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  4. Hofstadter, D. R. Phys. Rev. B 14, 2239–2249 (1976).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Peierls, R. Z. Phys. 80, 763–791 (1933).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Aidelsburger, M. et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 111, 185301 (2013).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Miyake, H., Siviloglou, G. A., Kennedy, C. J., Burton, W. C. & Ketterle, W. Phys. Rev. Lett. 111, 185302 (2013).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Mancini, M. et al. Science 349, 1510–1513 (2015).

    Article  ADS  MathSciNet  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Stuhl, B. K., Lu, H.-I., Aycock, L. M., Genkina, D. & Spielman, I. B. Science 349, 1514–1518 (2015).

    Article  ADS  MathSciNet  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. An, F. A., Meier, E. J. & Gadway, B. Sci. Adv. 3, e1602685 (2017).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Kolkowitz, S. et al. Nature 542, 66–70 (2017).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, University of Alberta, Edmonton, T6G 2E1, Alberta, Canada

    Lindsay J. LeBlanc

Authors
  1. Lindsay J. LeBlanc
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Lindsay J. LeBlanc.

Related links

Related links

Related links in Nature Research

Quantum physics: Getting the measure of entanglement

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

LeBlanc, L. Interactions propel a magnetic dance. Nature 546, 481–482 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/546481a

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/546481a

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing