Events Inside Atoms Can Now Be Observed

A group of scientists based at the IBM Almaden Research Center has recently been able to develop an observations method that allows them to observe the events going on inside atoms.

This has been extremely difficult to perform until now, given the impressive speed at which these actions take place. But the new technique allows them to be observed with impressive resolution.

For this research, the experts had to flip the spin orientation of an atom. They then observed the length of time the atom needed before it reverted back to its initial spin orientation.

Such studies could very well set the foundation for stable, high-capacity quantum memory, which would store data in the spin of atoms.

The conclusions of the new investigation could also be used to develop more efficient organic solar cells, that would have increased efficiency in converting sunlight to electrical energy.

IBM researchers say that, while it has been possible to measure spin orientation statically in the past, there was until now no method of watching the spin change over a period of time.

The research team conducted the new study with a modified scanning tunneling microscope (STM), an observations device that was created 29 years ago by IBM scientists.

According to the team, the new STM variant can snap images of the spin orientation once every five nanoseconds, which means that the device is a million times faster than its previous versions.

In a paper detailing the findings, which appears in last week's issue of the top journal Science, the science group says that an iron atom is capable of “remembering” magnetic information in its spin for a nanosecond.

But the researchers also found another interesting fact. If the iron atom is moved close to a copper atom, than its storing capability is boosted to 200 nanoseconds.

“The information decays in 200 nanoseconds, but that's a lot of time. Current processors do several hundred cycles of calculations in that time,” says IBM research team member Sebastian Loth.

At this point, developing quantum computers and related quantum components is the main objective for the electronics industry, and physicists are working hard on setting the foundation for that.

A decade ago, it was believed that quantum computers will be a reality within 25 to 40 years, but that time frame has been reduced by recent innovations, Technology Review reports. 

However, at least a decade will pass before these machines will be made available. Once they are complete, they will be able to perform complex calculations, that are inaccessible to today's supercomputers.