Atoms and molecules on the same wavelength
(Phys.org) —It may be surprising, but in physics the terrain of atoms and the territory of organic molecules are worlds apart. Therefore, in order to have a molecule communicate optically with atoms, the physicists must put in a similar amount of effort as most Europeans do when they want to learn Chinese. A team from the Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research and the University of Stuttgart has now initiated a communication between molecules and atoms for the first time. The researchers have forced the molecules to emit a stream of single photons. They selected the molecules such that the colour of their emission was perfectly tuned to the absorption of sodium atoms. Subsequently, the researchers were able to develop a filter from a glass cell filled with sodium vapour that blocks light of this colour extremely well and could be interesting for biological experiments, for example. In addition,...