Making Quantum Behavior Observable Using Optical Levitation
Tuesday, January 26, 2010 - 12:07
in Physics & Chemistry
(PhysOrg.com) -- Perhaps one of the biggest challenges of modern physics is figuring out how to realize and take advantage of strange quantum behaviors in progressively larger and more complex systems. Progress along this front is expected to shed insight into the nature of quantum mechanics and lead to many novel applications. With this goal in mind, scientists have recently proposed a unique approach that involves optically levitating a nano-mechanical system in order to cool it to its quantum ground state, where the amount of motion of the system reaches the fundamental minimum set by intrinsic quantum fluctuations.