Physicists exploit a quantum rule to create a new kind of crystal

Atoms can arrange themselves in regular configurations thanks to the Pauli exclusion principle

lithium atoms confined in lasers

Scientists created a new type of crystal, based only on a quantum rule called the Pauli exclusion principle, by using lasers to confine lithium atoms (illustrated at center) to a region within a vacuum chamber.

S. Jochim Group/Heidelberg Univ.

Physicists have harnessed the aloofness of quantum particles to create a new type of crystal.