Researchers Create Bose-Einstein 'Super Molecule'

Researchers Create Bose-Einstein 'Super Molecule'

A super-cold collection of molecules behaving in perfect unison has been created for the first time from a sea of “fermion” atoms by researchers at JILA, a joint institute of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the University of Colorado at Boulder (CU-Boulder). Fermions are a class of particles that are inherently difficult to coax into a uniform quantum state. The ability to meld fermions into this state—a soup of particles that acts like one giant, super molecule—may lead to better understanding of superconductivity, in which electricity flows through certain metals with no resistance. The work was described in a paper posted Nov. 7 on the informal physics archival Web site at http://arxiv.org and will be published online by the journal Nature on Nov. 26. Researchers Deborah S. Jin of NIST and Markus Greiner and Cindy A. Regal of CU-Boulder reported that they created a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) of weakly bound molecules starting with a gas of fermionic potassium atoms cooled to 150 nanoKelvin above absolute zero (about minus 273 degrees Celsius or minus 459 degrees Fahrenheit). Jin describes her team’s work as the “first molecular condensate” and says it is closely related to “fermionic superfluidity,” a hotly sought after state in gases that is analogous to superconductivity in metals. “Fermionic superfluidity is superconductivity in another form,” says Jin. Quantum physicists are in a worldwide race to produce fermionic superfluidity because gases would be much easier to study than solid superconductors and such work could lead to more useful superconducting materials. For more details, see www.nist.gov/public_affairs/releases/super_molecule.htm.
To receive a high resolution version of this image contact: Gail Porter, (301) 975-3392.
Quantum Physics Physics NIST Image Gallery Last updated: November 25, 2003

A super-cold collection of molecules behaving in perfect unison has been created for the first time from a sea of “fermion” atoms by researchers at JILA, a joint institute of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the University of Colorado at Boulder (CU-Boulder).

Fermions are a class of particles that are inherently difficult to coax into a uniform quantum state. The ability to meld fermions into this state—a soup of particles that acts like one giant, super molecule—may lead to better understanding of superconductivity, in which electricity flows through certain metals with no resistance.

The work was described in a paper posted Nov. 7 on the informal physics archival Web site at http://arxiv.org and will be published online by the journal Nature on Nov. 26. Researchers Deborah S. Jin of NIST and Markus Greiner and Cindy A. Regal of CU-Boulder reported that they created a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) of weakly bound molecules starting with a gas of fermionic potassium atoms cooled to 150 nanoKelvin above absolute zero (about minus 273 degrees Celsius or minus 459 degrees Fahrenheit).

Jin describes her team’s work as the “first molecular condensate” and says it is closely related to “fermionic superfluidity,” a hotly sought after state in gases that is analogous to superconductivity in metals. “Fermionic superfluidity is superconductivity in another form,” says Jin. Quantum physicists are in a worldwide race to produce fermionic superfluidity because gases would be much easier to study than solid superconductors and such work could lead to more useful superconducting materials.

For more details, see www.nist.gov/public_affairs/releases/super_molecule.htm.

To receive a high resolution version of this image contact: Gail Porter, (301) 975-3392.

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Last updated: November 25, 2003