
Shaking atoms and watching them dance at a higher and forbidden tempo

Under sportlovet anordnade Fysikum, Vetenskapens hus och Kungliga vetenskapsakademien en så kallad ” Science meetup” som riktar sig till gymnasieelever och främst till nyanlända ungdomar. Idén bakom projektet är att hjälpa de nyanlända ungdomarna in i det svenska samhället genom interaktion med svenska ungdomar.
Superconductivity is caused by pairing of electrons (formation of Cooper pairs). Usually the required electron-electron interaction is mediated by phonons –vibrations of positive ions in the crystal lattice. In this case Nature finds a smart way of avoiding direct Coulomb repulsion of equally charged electrons in the pair.
Liquid water fluctuates between two different states when it is cooled and these fluctuations reach a maximum at -44 oC. An international team of researchers headed by the Stockholm University reported the first experimental evidence of the existence of the Widom line which is supposed to emanate from the liquid-liquid critical point.
The ion trapping group at Stockholm University led by Markus Hennrich has implemented the first quantum gate on a trapped Rydberg ion. The result has been published in Physical Review Letters and has been highlighted as an editors’ suggestion.
There is a range of wavelength in the electromagnetic spectrum that is hard to exploit, although it would certainly bring enormous advantages in many fields of application if we were able to build a suitable source. That is known as the THz Gap (The Terahertz Gap), and researchers at Stockholm University seem to have finally found a way around it.