Electron makes ultracold atoms move as one

Harnessing the strong particle-gas interaction is early step toward quantum optics applications

In a Bose-Einstein condensate, represented here, atoms condense from less dense red, yellow and green areas into very dense blue to white areas. Manipulating a single atom in this material can make all of the atoms vibrate together.

UC Boulder, JILA, NIST

By Ashley Yeager

October 31, 2013 at 8:42 am

Trapping a single electron in a Bose-Einstein condensate can make tens of thousands of rubidium atoms in an ultracold gas vibrate together. The electron-gas connection is stronger in this system than observed in previous experiments and is one of the purest forms available to study how electrons and matter interact, researchers report October 30 in Nature.

Harnessing this electron-gas interaction could one day help scientists image the path electrons take as the particles move around an atom’s nucleus and could improve quantum-scale optics systems.