BONN, Germany, July 12 (UPI) -- German scientists say they've moved individual atoms along a line like beads on an abacus, using a technique involving laser beams.
Arno Rauschenbeutel and colleagues at the University of Bonn report their technique can be used to sort and space atoms one by one, and might be applicable as a memory device in which quantum information is stored in strings of equidistant atoms.
The team use laser beams to trap the atoms, which are captured in "wells" created by allowing opposing laser beams to interfere. Following that manipulation, the distribution of atoms along the horizontal trap axis is represented as a row of bright spots about half a micrometer apart. The researchers trap atoms of cesium cooled to less than 1-1,000 of a degree above absolute zero.
That cooling, say the scientists, is needed to prevent the atoms from jumping out of the wells.
The researchers were able to move atoms placed in the horizontal traps with random inter-atomic distances in the horizontal wells until they were all in a line with an identical distance between consecutive atoms.
The research is detailed in the journal Nature.
