https://gizmodo.com/picture-of-single-trapped-atom-wins-uk-science-photogra-1822957405
Zoom in close on the center of the picture above, and you can spot something you perhaps never thought you’d be able to see: a single atom. Here is a close-up if, you’re having trouble:
This strontium atom is emitting light after being excited by a laser, and it’s the winner of the UK’s Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) photography award. The EPSRC announced the winners of its fifth annual contest yesterday. Winning photographer David Nadlinger, graduate student at the University of Oxford, was just excited to be able to show off his research.
“It’s exciting to find a picture that resonates with other people that shows what I spend my days and nights working on,” Nadlinger told me. The best part, to him, was “the opportunity to excite people about my research, more than winning a competition.”
Nadlinger traps atoms as part of his research on quantum computing. The laser light causes the atom to emit photons, which could be collected using a longer exposure. He took the photo through a window into the vacuum of the ion trap.
Judges selected the photo from more than 100 entries that receive EPSRC funding—the EPSRC is the main funder of physical science research in the United Kingdom.
Does the light emitting from the atom make it look much bigger?
Cool stuff right there! Doesn't really say but wondering what the scale is. I see nuts and bolts and then the 2 needles which look visible to the naked eye. If the 2 ends are say .1 mm then the dot is .01 mm. (total guessing on my part) Molecules are in the 1/2 nano-meter range. So a molecule would be 5/100,000 that size and a molecule is much bigger than an atom. Even if my guessing is off by 2 orders of magnitude, still 200 times too big for a molecule. Would like to know exactly what we are looking at. Does the light emitting from the atom make it look much bigger?
Cool stuff right there! Doesn't really say but wondering what the scale is. I see nuts and bolts and then the 2 needles which look visible to the naked eye. If the 2 ends are say .1 mm then the dot is .01 mm. (total guessing on my part) Molecules are in the 1/2 nano-meter range. So a molecule would be 5/100,000 that size and a molecule is much bigger than an atom. Even if my guessing is off by 2 orders of magnitude, still 200 times too big for a molecule. Would like to know exactly what we are looking at. Does the light emitting from the atom make it look much bigger?
WOW.
And I have a hard time getting my cats to sit still for a decent photo.
I could have sworn that they stated the distance between the two probes but I can't find it now.
"The distance between the small needle tips is about two millimetres."
https://www.epsrc.ac.uk/newsevents/news/single-trapped-atom-captures-science-photography-competitions-top-prize/
Then the dot is about .05mm. Wikipedia says atoms are of various sizes but average 100 picometers. The dot is 500,000 times larger than an atom.
Sorry about that chief.
Well OK, Conrad we'll forgive you this time, as long as you continue to keep us informed of what is going on in outer space, inner space, micro space, corn hole competitions....and when you finish with all that could you please sign up for and then go check out the arena for any Russian bots stirring up trouble in there please?
As for the Arena? I would have to say that perhaps you haven't been there in a while?
As the article states, what you're seeing is a single "strontium atom emitting light after being excited by a laser".
The title of this thread, and the story, is a bit misleading. Sorry about that chief.