SCIENTIFIC EDUCATIONAL CENTER science idea

For the first time in the history of science, physicists have managed to create a vortex atomic beam, a kind of swirling "tornado" of atoms and molecules, with some amazing quantum properties that have yet to be studied in the near future. In the experiment, a direct beam of helium atoms directed into space through a tiny hole of a certain shape, due to the influence of strange laws of quantum mechanics, was transformed into a swirling vortex.
After the "spinning" procedure, the beam of atoms acquired another parameter — the orbital angular momentum, which characterizes its rotation and gives the beam some amazing properties. For example, due to the different speeds of rotation of electrons and nuclei of helium atoms in the beam, some kind of additional measurements of the magnetism of this beam appear, which leads to the appearance of unpredictable effects.
The vortex atomic beam was obtained by aiming a conventional linear beam of helium atoms through a grid of cuts, only 600 nanometers thick, which served as a diffraction grating. However, at the level of individual atoms of such a small size as helium atoms, the laws of quantum mechanics apply, according to which particles, helium atoms in this case, can behave both as particles and as quanta of electromagnetic waves. Therefore, the beam of atoms passing through the lattice diffracted like a ray of ordinary light, bending and twisting into a vortex.
The sensor, on the surface of which the vortex atomic beam was aimed, showed the presence of several separate rays in it, the angular orbital moment of which differs by several angular degrees. And on the surface of the sensor, these rays took the form of several nested concentric circles of different thicknesses.
Also in the overall picture, the smallest but brightest rings were seen on the sensor surface, the parameters of which correspond to the appearance of so-called helium excimers, a kind of molecules formed by two excited helium atoms. Note that helium is the least active element even among the group of inert gases, under normal conditions it does not form molecules and does not react with other substances.
In future experiments, scientists will try to create rays similar to the vortex beam of helium, consisting of photons, electrons and atoms of other elements. This will allow them to determine and measure the properties that the presence of orbital angular momentum gives to the rays. And now scientists are considering the vortex atomic beam as a candidate for use in microscopes of the next generation, which will allow us to see some things that have been hidden so far at the subatomic level.
The article was published in the journal Live Science
Image: Artistic image of a swirling vortex beam © Weiquan Lin/Getty Images
Source: dailytechinfo.org, sci-dig.ru