How to put 170 atoms in an atom

simonebrunozzi

The article, rather shallow, is about Bose-Einstein Condensate (BEC). I found it a bit more interesting that the author's middle name is Galileo, and that he is participating in a "blogging" residency [0]: Inkhaven residency: A 30 day residency for you to grow as a writer. For one month, you'll publish a blogpost every day. Or pack your bags. [0]: https://www.inkhaven.blog/

tromp

> So in 2018, an international team of scientists created a BEC out of strontium atoms, and hit one of those atoms with a carefully tuned laser, exciting its outermost electron and turning it into a Rydberg atom. Several other atoms from the BEC were caught within between that outer electron’s inflated orbital. This is not so much putting 170 atoms in one, but inflating one beyond the size of its 170-atom neighbourhood. The hard part being to cool the neighbourhood to such an extremely low temperature that the inflated atom doesn't ionize.

robthebrew

As someone who did blue sky chemistry research decades ago: is this completely pointless?

GTP

Great way of saving space at home :)

Razengan

Are we getting closer to sophons?

kadushka

The article is well-written, and is very clear, thank you!

andai

Poor atoms. They froze them to absolute zero, of course they're going to huddle together!

laxpri

I am here to just appreciate the article how clear it is .

laxpri

as a naive , it is non-intuitive for me how the lower bound is 0 kelvin, is this the temp where things truly stops oscillating (quantum level) or we just dont care .

JoeAltmaier

Wait - if the 170 atoms are a Bose-Einstein Condensate, then they are really just one atom. That's the whole deal with Condensates.

farhanhubble

Does this type of atomic engineering have the potential for creating new types of materials, like polymers?