Ultra-Cold Molecules

1. Ultra-Cold Molecules • Experiment: The experiment was done by individually freezing the atoms of potassium and rubidium to extremely low temperatures. Next using laser pulses and magnetic forces they combined the two cold atoms to be a cold molecule. Next as shown by the picture to the right radio waves were used to pack the molecules more tightly and increase density. Background: Before 2008 no one had been able to chill molecules down to the temperature that took place in this experiment. Molecules would break apart too quickly or be vibrating too fast and be too difficult to get quality data. Atoms however had been able to be reduced to extremely low temperatures for a good amount of time. This advancement in physics was because Jun Ye and Deborah Jin, of Boulder, Colorado, preformed an experiment where the temperature of the molecules formed were brought down to the range of “a few hundred-billionths of a degree” for the molecule in this experiment. The hope was having ultra-cold molecules would help in the advancement of knowledge in particle physics and physical chemistry. Applications: There are many potential good consequences that can come from this experiment. One of them is the more accuracy in which measurements can be made about simple molecules. This was a problem before because although cold and low energy they were not as cold as now and now are able to be in the lowest energy where there movement relative to each other. The molecules stay bonded longer and measurements can be made. With the better measurements and understanding materials can be made to have more specific desired qualities. One big example of this would be in quantum computing. If the molecules can be put into a smaller volume and controlled better they could be used to encode data or do calculations. Sources: Schewe, P. (2008, October 15). Ultracold Molecules -- Physics News Update 875. Retrieved from http://www.aip.org/pnu/2008/split/875-1.html The Top Ten Physics News Stories of 2008. (2009, February). Retrieved December 8, 2013, from http://www.aps.org/publications/apsnews/200902/physicsstories.cfm Ultracold Molecules | Ye Group. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://jila.colorado.edu/yelabs/research/ultracold-molecules