Home > Press > Elucidating energy shifts in optical tweezers: Physicists are providing an all-in-one guide to help calculate the effect the use of optical tweezers has on the energy levels of atoms under study
 |
Abstract:
A small piece of paper sticks to an electrically charged plastic ruler. The principle of this simple classroom physics experiment is applied at the microscopic scale by so-called optical tweezers to get the likes of polystyrene micro-beads and even living cells to "stick" to a laser beam, or to trap atoms at ultra-low temperatures. Physicist Fam Le Kien and his colleagues from the Institute of Atomic and Subatomic Physics of the Vienna University of Technology, Austria, provide a comprehensive manual with general theoretical tools, definitions, and spectroscopic data sets for calculating the energy levels of atoms, which are modified by light emanating from optical tweezers, in a study about to be published in EPJ D.
Elucidating energy shifts in optical tweezers: Physicists are providing an all-in-one guide to help calculate the effect the use of optical tweezers has on the energy levels of atoms under study
Heidelberg, Germany | Posted on May 8th, 2013One issue that occurs when trapping atoms with optical tweezers is that the laser beam modifies atoms' energy levels. As a result, it changes the frequency at which the atoms emit or absorb light and microwave radiation. Depending on the experiment, this effect can have important consequences and its magnitude might need to be calculated. Interestingly, the change in the energy levels can be seen as partly due to a fictitious magnetic field, induced by the light field effect on the atoms. This is akin to introducing fictitious forces when describing a body's motion in a rotating reference frame.
The authors show that these fictitious magnetic fields add up to the same effect as real magnetic fields. This will help physicists to intuitively foresee the effects that occur in their experiments when external magnetic fields either cannot be avoided or are intentionally applied. Ultimately, this all-in-one guide could be used in fundamental research as well as for applications such as quantum simulators and quantum computers.
####
For more information, please click here
Contacts:
Sophia Grein
Copyright © Springer
If you have a comment, please Contact us.Issuers of news releases, not 7th Wave, Inc. or Nanotechnology Now, are solely responsible for the accuracy of the content.
Bookmark:
| Related Links |
| Related News Press |
News and information
Electrifying results shed light on graphene foam as a potential material for lab grown cartilage June 6th, 2025
Quantum computers simulate fundamental physics: shedding light on the building blocks of nature June 6th, 2025
A 1960s idea inspires NBI researchers to study hitherto inaccessible quantum states June 6th, 2025
Quantum Computing
Quantum computers simulate fundamental physics: shedding light on the building blocks of nature June 6th, 2025
Magnetism in new exotic material opens the way for robust quantum computers June 4th, 2025
Programmable electron-induced color router array May 14th, 2025
Discoveries
Researchers unveil a groundbreaking clay-based solution to capture carbon dioxide and combat climate change June 6th, 2025
Cambridge chemists discover simple way to build bigger molecules – one carbon at a time June 6th, 2025
Electrifying results shed light on graphene foam as a potential material for lab grown cartilage June 6th, 2025
A 1960s idea inspires NBI researchers to study hitherto inaccessible quantum states June 6th, 2025
Announcements
Electrifying results shed light on graphene foam as a potential material for lab grown cartilage June 6th, 2025
Quantum computers simulate fundamental physics: shedding light on the building blocks of nature June 6th, 2025
A 1960s idea inspires NBI researchers to study hitherto inaccessible quantum states June 6th, 2025
Interviews/Book Reviews/Essays/Reports/Podcasts/Journals/White papers/Posters
Cambridge chemists discover simple way to build bigger molecules – one carbon at a time June 6th, 2025
Electrifying results shed light on graphene foam as a potential material for lab grown cartilage June 6th, 2025
Quantum computers simulate fundamental physics: shedding light on the building blocks of nature June 6th, 2025
A 1960s idea inspires NBI researchers to study hitherto inaccessible quantum states June 6th, 2025
Tools
Rice researchers harness gravity to create low-cost device for rapid cell analysis February 28th, 2025
New 2D multifractal tools delve into Pollock's expressionism January 17th, 2025
Photonics/Optics/Lasers
Institute for Nanoscience hosts annual proposal planning meeting May 16th, 2025
Programmable electron-induced color router array May 14th, 2025
Quantum nanoscience
Programmable electron-induced color router array May 14th, 2025
 |
||
 |
||
| The latest news from around the world, FREE | ||
 |
||
|
|
||
| Premium Products | ||
 |
||
|
Only the news you want to read!
Learn More |
||
 |
||
|
Full-service, expert consulting
Learn More |
||
|
|
||