Scientists demonstrate quantum phenomenon for the first time using a plastic film (BEC)

[bananas]

http://phys.org/news/2013-12-scientists-quantum-phenomenon-plastic.html

Scientists demonstrate quantum phenomenon for the first time using a plastic film
Dec 11, 2013

For the first time, scientists at IBM Research have demonstrated a complex quantum mechanical phenomenon known as Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC), using a luminescent polymer (plastic) similar to the materials in light emitting displays used in many of today's smartphones.

This discovery has potential applications in developing novel optoelectronic devices including energy-efficient lasers and ultra-fast optical switches—critical components for powering future computer systems to process massive Big Data workloads. The use of a polymer material and the observation of BEC at room temperature provides substantial advantages in terms of applicability and cost.

IBM scientists around the world are focused on an ambitious data centric exascale computing program, which is aimed at developing systems that can process massive data workloads fifty times faster than today. Such a system will need optical interconnects capable of high-speed processing of Petabytes to Exabytes of Big Data. This will enable high-performance analytics for: energy grids, life sciences, financial modelling, business intelligence and weather and climate forecasting.

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A Bose-Einstein Condensate is a peculiar state of matter which occurs when a dilute gas of particles (bosons) are cooled to nearly absolute zero (-273 Celsius, -459 Fahrenheit). At this temperature intriguing macroscopic quantum phenomena occur in which the bosons all line up like ballroom dancers.

In 1995 this was demonstrated for the first time at these extreme temperatures, but today in a paper appearing in Nature Materials, IBM scientists have achieved the same state at room temperature using a thin non-crystalline polymer film developed by chemists at the University of Wuppertal in Germany.

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[longship]

1. Not very practical if one has to operate near zero K.

But this stuff is ever fascinating. Bose-Einstein condensates are awesome cool. (No pun intended.)

[bananas]

2. This is room temperature. nt

[longship]

3. Whoops!

Up very late last night. Not enough coffee today. My bad.

I stand corrected. I want to see repetition of this, though.

It's is awesome cool, regardless.

[bananas]

4. Another group used nanowires to make room-temperature BEC earlier this year

http://arstechnica.com/science/2013/02/bose-einstein-condensate-created-at-room-temperature/

Bose-Einstein condensate created at room temperature
Instead of atoms, condensation was achieved using quasiparticles.

by Matthew Francis - Feb 6 2013, 9:15am PST

Bose-Einstein condensation is a dramatic phenomenon in which many particles act as though they were a single entity. The first Bose-Einstein condensate produced in the laboratory used rubidium atoms at very cold temperatures—work that was awarded the 2001 Nobel Prize in physics. Other materials, like superconductors, exhibit similar behavior through particle interactions.

These systems typically require temperatures near absolute zero. But Ayan Das and colleagues have now used a nanoscale wire to produce an excitation known as a polariton. These polaritons formed a Bose-Einstein condensate at room temperature, potentially opening up a new avenue for studying systems that otherwise require expensive cooling and trapping.

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This experiment marked the first room-temperature BEC ever observed in the laboratory. While the authors didn't suggest any practical application, the potential for studying BECs directly is obvious. Without the need for cryogenic temperatures or the sorts of optical and magnetic traps that accompany atomic BECs, many aspects of Bose-Einstein condensation can potentially be probed far less expensively than before.

PNAS, 2013. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1210842110

[longship]

5. I am educated in physics (BS+) but it's difficult to keep up with this stuff.

I am often surprised by some of these experimental results. I was a horrible experimentalist. My forte was math, so I stuck to theory. Didn't finish a grad degree, the biggest mistake of my life.