Atomic and molecular

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The most precise timekeeping device ever built

Photonic orbitals shape up

The behaviour of photons confined inside three-dimensional cavity superlattices is much more complex than that of electrons in conventional solid-state materials

Scientists create space plasmas at CERN

Producing fast-moving "fireballs" in the lab could shed light on processes in extreme astrophysical emissions

Matter-wave interferometry puts new limits on ‘chameleon particles’

Gravity measurement benefits from optical lattice

Research headlines

Conceptual art showing the rare-earth element promethium

Scientists uncover hidden properties of rare-earth element promethium

Boson sampler uses atoms rather than photons

Magnetic islands stabilize fusion plasma, simulations suggest

Bilayer of ultracold atoms has just a 50 nm gap

System could be used to simulate superconducting bilayer graphene

Individual polyatomic molecules are trapped in optical-tweezer arrays

Molecules cooled to their quantum ground state

Space weather phenomenon observed in the lab for the first time

Magnetosphere events known as whistler mode chorus emissions can now be produced in a controlled environment

New attosecond X-ray spectroscopy technique ‘freezes’ atomic nuclei in place

Removing "noise" from atomic motion enables scientists to observe electron movement in real time, leading to new interpretations of previous results

Space-borne atoms herald new tests of Einstein’s equivalence principle

Measuring the free-fall rate of different type of atoms in space could unveil hidden mechanisms of gravity

Matter–antimatter gas of positronium is laser cooled

Technique could give spectroscopic studies of antimatter a boost

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Composite image of Arrokoth, a lumpy object that resembles a flattened snowman, superimposed on a selection of ball-and-stick diagrams for sugar and related molecules and a photograph showing distant stars and galaxies. The image also includes a graph of Arrokoth's colour slope over time.

Scientists identify a ‘sugar world’ beyond Neptune

The surface of a Kuiper Belt object called Arrokoth is rich in glucose, ribose and other sweet molecules

Ultracold four-atom molecules are bound by electric dipole moments

New technique could shed light on high-temperature superconductivity

Image showing hot pink and orange arrows representing the flow of heat through a grid of atom-like spheres

Physicists take the temperature of second sound

Results could have applications for studies of high-temperature superconductors and neutron stars

Physicists observe false vacuum decay in a ferromagnetic superfluid

First experimental evidence of true vacuum “bubbles” could have implications for cosmology as well as condensed-matter physics

Photo of the vacuum chamber containing the rubidium MOT, surrounded by optics and imaging systems

Machine learning takes hassle out of cold-atom experiments

Reinforcement learning can make cooling apparatus more robust

Magnetic reconnection in space and fusion plasmas: challenges at large and small scales

Join the audience for a live webinar on 6 February 2024 sponsored by IOP Publishing's journal, Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion

optical components on an optical bench, bathed in orange light

Entangled molecules make a novel qubit platform

Two independent groups report a new tool for quantum science

A simulation of a powerful and bright laser source created using a collection of many electrons that move together like a single giant particle, or quasiparticle

Scientists propose super-bright light source powered by quasiparticles

A new light source concept based on plasma accelerators could be harnessed for a variety of applications, including non-destructive imaging and computer-chip manufacturing

Neutral-atom quantum computers are having a moment

Three new studies show record low error rates and a new error erasure strategy for two-qubit quantum gates

Organic molecule from trees excels at seeding clouds, CERN study reveals

Sesquiterpene creates cloud-forming particles

Artist's cartoon of the quantum engine as a piston, showing the piston compressed when the particles are molecules and expanded when they are individual fermionic atoms

No-heat quantum engine makes its debut

Researchers demonstrate a prototype engine powered by the quantum statistics of bosons and fermions

Antimatter does not fall up, CERN experiment reveals

ALPHA-g is first to observe antihydrogen in freefall

‘Alice rings’ spotted in a Bose–Einstein condensate

Laboratory experiment could shed light on cosmological questions

Cold atoms used to create reliable pressure gauge for ultrahigh vacuum

Device could be used in particle accelerators and gravitational-wave detectors

Photo of Zhendong Zhang and Cheng Chin in their lab at Chicago. They're looking through a tangle of wires at an optical bench full of components with a vacuum chamber at its heart

Quantum superchemistry emerges in the laboratory

Chemical reactions speed up when reactants are in the same quantum state, confirming theoretical predictions

Photo of the vacuum chamber and other experimental apparatus used to measure the eEDM

Physicists measure the electron electric dipole moment to unprecedented precision

Measurement calls into question theories beyond the Standard Model

Artist’s depiction of two spatially separated entangled rubidium atom clouds on top of a micro-fabricated gold atom chip. The atom clouds are shown as blue dots and sit in the middle of gold wiring on the chip

Einstein–Podolsky–Rosen paradox gets a 1000-atom test

New experiment brings EPR thought experiment to reality for the first time in massive, many-particle systems

Fractional quantum Hall state appears in ultracold atoms

Strongly interacting Laughlin state had previously only been observed in condensed-matter systems and in photons

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