Picture of Single Trapped Atom Wins UK Science Photography Prize

[Conrad]

https://gizmodo.com/picture-of-single-trapped-atom-wins-uk-science-photogra-1822957405



Zoom in close on the center of the picture above, and you can spot something you perhaps never thought you’d be able to see: a single atom. Here is a close-up if, you’re having trouble:



This strontium atom is emitting light after being excited by a laser, and it’s the winner of the UK’s Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) photography award. The EPSRC announced the winners of its fifth annual contest yesterday. Winning photographer David Nadlinger, graduate student at the University of Oxford, was just excited to be able to show off his research.

“It’s exciting to find a picture that resonates with other people that shows what I spend my days and nights working on,” Nadlinger told me. The best part, to him, was “the opportunity to excite people about my research, more than winning a competition.”

Nadlinger traps atoms as part of his research on quantum computing. The laser light causes the atom to emit photons, which could be collected using a longer exposure. He took the photo through a window into the vacuum of the ion trap.

Judges selected the photo from more than 100 entries that receive EPSRC funding—the EPSRC is the main funder of physical science research in the United Kingdom.

[VirginiaJim]

Wow!

[B.D.F.]

Outstanding! Although I guess technically it is not really a visual photograph of the atom but a long- exposure (Easy Boys!) of the light being emitted by the atom. Still, most impressive to single one out like that and take a..... snapshot. :-)

Brian

https://gizmodo.com/picture-of-single-trapped-atom-wins-uk-science-photogra-1822957405



Zoom in close on the center of the picture above, and you can spot something you perhaps never thought you’d be able to see: a single atom. Here is a close-up if, you’re having trouble:



This strontium atom is emitting light after being excited by a laser, and it’s the winner of the UK’s Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) photography award. The EPSRC announced the winners of its fifth annual contest yesterday. Winning photographer David Nadlinger, graduate student at the University of Oxford, was just excited to be able to show off his research.

“It’s exciting to find a picture that resonates with other people that shows what I spend my days and nights working on,” Nadlinger told me. The best part, to him, was “the opportunity to excite people about my research, more than winning a competition.”

Nadlinger traps atoms as part of his research on quantum computing. The laser light causes the atom to emit photons, which could be collected using a longer exposure. He took the photo through a window into the vacuum of the ion trap.

Judges selected the photo from more than 100 entries that receive EPSRC funding—the EPSRC is the main funder of physical science research in the United Kingdom.

[Rhino]

Cool stuff right there! Doesn't really say but wondering what the scale is. I see nuts and bolts and then the 2 needles which look visible to the naked eye. If the 2 ends are say .1 mm then the dot is .01 mm. (total guessing on my part) Molecules are in the 1/2 nano-meter range.  So a molecule would be 5/100,000 that size and a molecule is much bigger than an atom. Even if my guessing is off by 2 orders of magnitude, still 200 times too big for a molecule. Would like to know exactly what we are looking at. Does the light emitting from the atom make it look much bigger?

[maxtog]

Does the light emitting from the atom make it look much bigger?

Yes
Like Brian said, I expect that is a LOT of light being produced and it is being photographed with a long exposure.

We *can* "see" individual atoms, but only by using some extremely powerful electron-type microscopes.  Even then, all you are really "seeing" is a sphere that represents the electrical influence of the atomic system (like the electrons zooming around in their orbits).

https://www.quora.com/What-are-some-of-the-best-actual-images-of-real-atoms-and-molecules

[B.D.F.]

Yeah, you are correct in your scale thinking I believe. It is just not possible to see an atom and 'threaded fasteners' on the same scale. But what makes that photograph so interesting to me is not that it is an actual photo of an atom but the fact that 'we' (humans) got one atom loose and held it in place, all alone, for long enough to even photograph the light emitted from it. Sorta' like "Hey, wanna' see AN atom?" or even better, "Hey, wanna' see MY atom?".

Long time ago, I saw an ECM image of silicon atoms aligned in a matrix or true crystal- it was a fantastic image of why silicone is a non- conductor (only a semi- conductor when properly doped or 'contaminated' with other elements to purposefully break the crystalline structure) and how covalent bonds work.

I could spend the rest of my life twiddling with an ECM :-)  Got to see one at college doing a scan of balsa wood and the structure of the wood was nothing short of amazing; like millions of cigarette paper tubes, all bundled together, hollow but strong.

Thanks for posting this Conrad- it really is quite cool I think.

Brian

Cool stuff right there! Doesn't really say but wondering what the scale is. I see nuts and bolts and then the 2 needles which look visible to the naked eye. If the 2 ends are say .1 mm then the dot is .01 mm. (total guessing on my part) Molecules are in the 1/2 nano-meter range.  So a molecule would be 5/100,000 that size and a molecule is much bigger than an atom. Even if my guessing is off by 2 orders of magnitude, still 200 times too big for a molecule. Would like to know exactly what we are looking at. Does the light emitting from the atom make it look much bigger?

[Conrad]

Cool stuff right there! Doesn't really say but wondering what the scale is. I see nuts and bolts and then the 2 needles which look visible to the naked eye. If the 2 ends are say .1 mm then the dot is .01 mm. (total guessing on my part) Molecules are in the 1/2 nano-meter range.  So a molecule would be 5/100,000 that size and a molecule is much bigger than an atom. Even if my guessing is off by 2 orders of magnitude, still 200 times too big for a molecule. Would like to know exactly what we are looking at. Does the light emitting from the atom make it look much bigger?

I could have sworn that they stated the distance between the two probes but I can't find it now.

[Nosmo]

WOW.

And I have a hard time getting my cats to sit still for a decent photo.

[Rhino]

WOW.

And I have a hard time getting my cats to sit still for a decent photo.

Exactly right! How did they isolate, then get that atom to sit still in that spot long enough to get the picture? Herding atoms has got to be as hard as herding cats.

[just gone]

I could have sworn that they stated the distance between the two probes but I can't find it now.

"The distance between the small needle tips is about two millimetres."
https://www.epsrc.ac.uk/newsevents/news/single-trapped-atom-captures-science-photography-competitions-top-prize/

[Rhino]

"The distance between the small needle tips is about two millimetres."
https://www.epsrc.ac.uk/newsevents/news/single-trapped-atom-captures-science-photography-competitions-top-prize/

Then the dot is about .05mm. Wikipedia says atoms are of various sizes but average 100 picometers. The dot is 500,000 times larger than an atom.

[VirginiaJim]

I wonder if the picture was taken out of a rear view mirror?

[Conrad]

Then the dot is about .05mm. Wikipedia says atoms are of various sizes but average 100 picometers. The dot is 500,000 times larger than an atom.

As the article states, what you're seeing is a single "strontium atom emitting light after being excited by a laser".

The title of this thread, and the story, is a bit misleading. Sorry about that chief. 

[just gone]

Sorry about that chief. 

Well OK, Conrad we'll forgive you this time, as long as you continue to keep us informed of what is going on in outer space, inner space, micro space, corn hole competitions....and when you finish with all that could you please sign up for and then go check out the arena for any Russian bots stirring up trouble in there please? 

[Conrad]

Well OK, Conrad we'll forgive you this time, as long as you continue to keep us informed of what is going on in outer space, inner space, micro space, corn hole competitions....and when you finish with all that could you please sign up for and then go check out the arena for any Russian bots stirring up trouble in there please? 

I appreciate your forgiveness Marty.

As for the Arena? I would have to say that perhaps you haven't been there in a while? If you'd care to visit you'd see that I've been very busy stirring up as much **** as I possibly can about our illustrious POTUS.

[gPink]

  A one man band he is...

[just gone]

As for the Arena? I would have to say that perhaps you haven't been there in a while?

   Never been, never will, even though they say "never say never".

      Please keep up the good work!   

[Rhino]

As the article states, what you're seeing is a single "strontium atom emitting light after being excited by a laser".

The title of this thread, and the story, is a bit misleading. Sorry about that chief.

I don't think its misleading at all. And I take it at face value that it is the light emitting from a single strontium atom. Just curious as to why the camera sees a dot 500,000 times larger than an atom. What that dot is to the atom, a house is to that dot.