World's quietest gas lets physicists hear faint quantum effects
Wednesday, August 5, 2015 - 10:30
in Physics & Chemistry
Bose-Einstein condensates have been cooled to a record 0.5 nanoKelvin, but the entropy of these gases are relatively high, meaning half the gas is normal, not quantum. Physicists have now found a way to reduce the entropy or noise in a BEC system at 1 nanoKelvin so that nearly all atoms are in the same quantum state, creating the quietest gas ever. It can be used to model quantum magnets and high-temperature superconductors.