Measure the vibration of electrons with an ion

2010/02/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Fisika

A team of the Innsbruck Physics Institute of Austria, in collaboration with researcher Enrique Solano of the Department of Chemical Physics of the UPV, has measured the alleged vibration of free electrons, the citterbewegung. However, they have not seen it directly on an electron, but have used a single calcium ion and an atom immobilization laser to simulate the behavior of electrons. The study has been published in the journal Nature.

In 1930, Schrödinger predicted, based on the Dirac equation, that particles moving near the speed of light, such as free electrons, vibrate violently. However, in the laboratory they have never seen it because, on the one hand, the amplitude of this vibration is too small and, on the other, it is too fast.

Given the inability to observe directly, researchers have resorted to the technique called quantum simulation to determine if there is that possible vibration. As Solano has pointed out, "quantum simulation is like a theater. In this theater typical facts of quantum are represented, facts that human beings cannot see in themselves."

Under suitable conditions, the mathematical model describing the interaction of ion with laser light reflects the Dirac equation. The ion intercepted by laser, therefore, has been considered as equal to a single electron and, at that time, has been able to detect vibration and confirm the existence of the vibration citerbewegung.