It seems we can now control electrons in the microcosm.... we're very close at least!

First off, this is quite the interesting article, although most of it doesn't make sense to me. But we've apparently come very close to a major step in controlling a part of the microcosm, i.e. the electron, by controlling light. According to Dr. Goulielmakis, this new technology...

....may very well lead the way towards light-based electronics in the future. Light fields are expected to drive electrons not only in isolated systems such as atoms or molecules, but even on microscopic circuits so as to perform logic operations at unprecedented speeds

An expedition through the fast-paced microscopic world of atoms reveals electrons that spin at enormous speeds and the gigantic forces that act on them. Monitoring the ultrafast motion of these electrons requires ultrashort flashes of light. However, in order to control them, the structure of these light flashes, or light pulses, needs to be tamed as well. This type of control over light pulses has now been achieved, for the first time

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Not only will these novel tools allow for the precise control of electron motion in the fundamental building blocks of matter, they will also further our understanding of atomic processes and permit more precise timing of electronic processes in molecules and atoms.

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Thanks to these latest results, the scientists have accomplished a major step towards the control of the microcosm. “These newly developed tools allow us to initiate, control and therefore further understand sub-atomic processes. With these devices, we can master the fine structuring of ultrashort light fields and reliably measure the newly formed light”.

Source: Taming light

oh quantum computing that would be cool.

Nice thread

reply to post by Droogie


It is an interesting article, but I think something got lost in the translation. Electrons do not, in a true physical sense, spin. The term was coined to apply to them to explain an intrinsic momentum, that for ease of description and mathematical facility, was called intrinsic angular momentum. And there is a faction in the physics world that goes een further and uses part of the transerse wave function to account for this momentum. And if you hit an electron with light you are hitting it with a photon, which, according to the often proved formulas of quantum electrodynamics, just adds energy to the electron.

Originally posted by contradictory
oh quantum computing that would be cool.

Nice thread

This is some pretty heavy stuff. I don't exactly know the implications of this, but I'd be willing to bet that there's not too many people that do. Either way, controlling subatomic particles like electrons has to be a very big deal. If this news randomly found its way back to a hundred years ago I'm sure no one would understand a word of it.

reply to post by 4nsicphd


You seem to be very knowledgable on the subject. Either way, controlling subatomic particles by nudging it with photons has got to be an important and tremendous achievement.

Originally posted by Droogie

Originally posted by contradictory
oh quantum computing that would be cool.

Nice thread

This is some pretty heavy stuff. I don't exactly know the implications of this, but I'd be willing to bet that there's not too many people that do. Either way, controlling subatomic particles like electrons has to be a very big deal. If this news randomly found its way back to a hundred years ago I'm sure no one would understand a word of it.

So in other words, boosting the amplitude by increasing the frequency acting on said electron?

Originally posted by Americanist

Originally posted by Droogie

Originally posted by contradictory


So in other words, boosting the amplitude by increasing the frequency acting on said electron?

Boosting the amplitude of what?