Scientists have created the world's lightest mirror, consisting of several hundred rubidium atoms

Quantum physics is a still unexplored field of science with unknown laws. And scientists are sorely lacking special instruments for studying the quantum world.

But progress does not stand still, and a scientific group from the Institute of Quantum Optics. M. The bar received the world's lightest mirror made of two-dimensional material, which can shed light on how photons react with matter and directly on the physics of the photons themselves.

How the world's lightest mirror was created

In order to construct such a small mirror measuring only a couple of hundred rubidium atoms, the scientists had to apply all their skill and a couple of tons of scientific equipment.

So, in order to form this microstructure measuring seven microns in diameter and only a couple of tens of nanometers in thickness, rubidium 87 atoms were cooled using laser cooling.

At the same time, the active bombardment of rubidium atoms led to their deceleration. Then, using already evaporative cooling, the temperature of the atoms was reduced to 10 degrees Kelvin or to -263 degrees Celsius.

And only then, using a directed magnetic field, rubidium atoms were arranged in a structure of a certain shape in the form of a two-dimensional lattice.

And this is how a mirror with the most outstanding reflective properties was obtained.

Of course, the next step was the experimental verification of the resulting mirror for its reflectivity.

For this, a polarized beam of photons was directed to its surface. An interesting fact is that, before being reflected from the surface, the beam of photons was repeatedly reflected from the atoms of the mirror material. This fact makes it possible to amplify the backward radiation.

What will it give in the future

According to scientists, this is a really important discovery, because the mirror obtained in this way can become a unique and very powerful tool for studying the properties of the quantum world. And in the future, on the basis of the discovered phenomenon, it will be possible to obtain even the first quantum transistor.

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