Single atom box

2000/10/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Nanoteknologia

At the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the United States they managed to isolate the Europium atom at room temperature. To capture isolated atoms it was necessary to work at extremely low temperatures or to isolate in a gaseous state by means of very precise mass spectrometers.

In Oak Ridge have been used in Oak Ridge to capture the europium atom. The test has been performed at room temperature and the atom can be studied with conventional microscopes. On the other hand, it has been observed that the atom trapped in the box has interesting optical properties and can be useful in nanotechnology.