Phys.org January 19, 2023 More than 80 years after quantum recoil was proposed researchers in Singapore have demonstrated the phenomenon of quantum recoil showing that it is observable at room temperature. By scattering free electrons off the periodic two-dimensional atomic sheets of van der Waals materials in a tabletop platform, they showed that the X-ray photon energy is accurately predicted only by quantum recoil theory, that it can be enormous, to the point that a classically predicted X-ray photon is emitted as an extremely low-energy photon. According to the researchers quantum recoil is a means of precision control over outgoing […]
Tag Archives: Quantum electrodynamics
Optical cavities could provide new technological possibilities
Phys.org May 12, 2022 Coupling between molecules and vacuum photon fields inside an optical cavity has proven to be an effective way to engineer molecular properties, in particular reactivity. An international team of researchers (Norway, Italy) studied optical cavities and how the light trapped in them interacts with atoms, molecules, and other particles. Their framework explained modifications of the electronic structure due to the interaction with the photon field. They showed that the newly developed orbital theory could be used to predict cavity induced modifications of molecular reactivity and pinpoint classes of systems with significant cavity effects. They also investigated […]
Discovery of matter-wave polaritons sheds new light on photonic quantum technologies
Phys.org April 6, 2022 Exploiting the interaction between polaritons has led to the realization of superfluids of light as well as of strongly correlated phases in the microwave domain, with similar efforts underway for microcavity excitons–polaritons. Researchers at Stony Brook University have developed an ultracold-atom analogue of an exciton–polariton system in which interacting polaritonic phases can be studied with full tunability and in the absence of dissipation. In their optical lattice system, they replaced exciton by an atomic excitation, whereas an atomic matter wave was substituted for the photon under a strong dynamical coupling between the two constituents that hybridizes […]
Cracking open strong field quantum electrodynamics
Phys.org September 28, 2021 After theoretical and computer modeling studies an international team of researchers (France, USA – Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory) proposed a scheme to explore regimes of strong-field quantum electrodynamics (SF QED) otherwise unattainable with the currently available laser technology. The scheme relies on relativistic plasma mirrors curved by radiation pressure to boost the intensity of petawatt-class laser pulses by Doppler effect and focus them to extreme field intensities. They showed that very clear SF QED signatures could be observed by placing a secondary target where the boosted beam is focused. This may finally crack the elusive physics […]