Amplifying atoms

2000/02/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Fisika

In the Massachusetts Institute for Technology, an atomic ray amplification mechanism has been developed, that is, an instrument that increases the number of atoms formed by atoms.

The amplifier behaves in the same way as the laser with light, but in the case of amplifiers it is a problem that does not appear with light: the law of conservation of matter. In fact, to increase the number of atoms of the atomic ray, the apparatus must add the atoms taken from the outside that are in the same quantum state and phase as the ray. For this, by laser beams, the atoms are accelerated to a suitable speed, which allows obtaining an atomic ray of high atomic concentration at the output of the amplifier. The process of accelerating external atoms and obtaining a coherent ray is very complex and the merit of discovery lies in this process.

The amplifier is used in navigation atomic clocks, gravity and rotation sensors and high-resolution atomic routing tools for the manufacture of nanostructures and new materials.