Cross-dressing rubidium may reveal clues for exotic computing
Neutral atoms - having no net electric charge - usually don't act very dramatically around a magnetic field. But by 'dressing them up' with light, researchers at the Joint Quantum Institute (JQI), a collaborative venture of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the University of Maryland at College Park, have caused ultracold rubidium atoms to undergo a startling transformation. They force neutral atoms to act like pointlike charged particles that can undergo merry-go-round-like 'cyclotron' motions just as electrons do when subjected to a suitable magnetic field. This extreme makeover for ultracold atoms promises to give physicists clues on how to achieve an exotic form of computation that would rely upon special 'fractionally charged' particles dancing around on a surface...