#atom

Scientists Measured the Mechanical Forces Applied to Break a Single Chemical BondWouldn't it be nice if we could measure the mechanical forces applied in atoms at the moment of breakage? Thanks to today's technology, it has already been made possible. Using a high-resolution atomic force microscope (AFM), researchers from Princeton University, the University of Texas-Austin, and ExxonMobil recorded the breaking of a single chemical bond between a carbon atom (which was from a carbon monoxide molecule) and an iron atom (from iron phthalocyanine). The findings could have applications for biochemistry, materials science, and energy technologies. The said findings were reported in a paper recently published in Nature Communications. Now, scientists know the amount of force needed to break a single chemical bond. Learn more about this study over at Princeton University. (Image Credit: Pengcheng Chen et al.) #MolecularBreakup #Chemistry #Atom #Molecule #MaterialScience

Scientists Used Optical Tweezers to Create a Mario Animation ... and the World's Most Powerful Quantum ComputerMikhail Lukin and colleagues at the Harvard Quantum Initiative used optical tweezers to arrange single atoms in sequential frames into a fun video clip featuring our favorite plumber Mario.But fun aside, the new technique - which uses focused laser beams - has enabled them to develop a special type of quantum computer called a programmable quantum simulator capable of operating with 256 quantum bits or "qubits."From The Harvard Gazette:“The number of quantum states that are possible with only 256 qubits exceeds the number of atoms in the solar system,” [physics student and study lead author Sepehr Ebadi] said, explaining the system’s vast size.“The workhorse of this new platform is a device called the spatial light modulator, which is used to shape an optical wavefront to produce hundreds of individually focused optical tweezer beams,” said Ebadi. “These devices are essentially the same as what is used inside a computer projector to display images on a screen, but we have adapted them to be a critical component of our quantum simulator.”The initial loading of the atoms into the optical tweezers is random, and the researchers must move the atoms around to arrange them into their target geometries. The researchers use a second set of moving optical tweezers to drag the atoms to their desired locations, eliminating the initial randomness. Lasers give the researchers complete control over the positioning of the atomic qubits and their coherent quantum manipulation.#quantumcomputing #Mario #opticaltweezer #atom #laser #quantumphysics

Scientists Can Now See Atoms at Such High Resolution that the Blur is Actually the Thermal Jiggling of the Atoms ThemselvesResearchers at Cornell University has made new advancements in imaging technology that allowed them to see atoms at record resolution: down to the picometer (one-trillionth of a meter). The resolution is so precise that the blurring they see is actually the thermal jiggling of the atoms themselves.The imaging technique, called ptychography, works by scanning overlapping scattering patterns from a material sample and looking for changes in the overlapping region. Using a 3D reconstruction algorithm, researchers are able to compute the shape of the object that caused that pattern.With these new algorithms, we’re now able to correct for all the blurring of our microscope to the point that the largest blurring factor we have left is the fact that the atoms themselves are wobbling, because that’s what happens to atoms at finite temperature,” professor David Muller said. “When we talk about temperature, what we’re actually measuring is the average speed of how much the atoms are jiggling.”#microscopy #ptychography #atom #picometer

A Boy And His Atom: The World's Smallest Movie Made by Moving Single AtomsIBM researchers used scanning tunneling microscope to move individual carbon monoxide molecules to make the world's smallest movie, according to Guinness World Records. The movie is so small that it could only be seen when it's magnified 100 million times.#IBM #atom #GuinnessWorldRecord #microscopy #movie #worldrecordView the full video clip below: