Researchers magnetize single copper atoms

Manipulation of Single Atoms

Long-range interactions of copper and silver atoms with hydrogen, helium, and rare-gas atoms

Dispersion interactions of the ground and resonantly excited states of Cu and Ag with a number of buffer gases are determined. The valence excitation spectrum was calculated by diagonalizing a semiempirical Hamiltonian in a large-dimension single-electron basis. The core made a significant contribution to the C6 and C8 dispersion coefficients for both copper and silver. Oscillator strengths and...

Trapping of single atoms with single photons in cavity QED

Two recent experiments have reported the trapping of individual atoms inside optical resonators by the mechanical forces associated with single photons @Hood et al., Science 287, 1447 ~2000!; Pinkse et al., Nature ~London! 404, 365 ~2000!#. Here we analyze the trapping dynamics in these settings, focusing on two points of interest. First, we investigate the extent to which light-induced forces ...

The single electron transistor and artificial atoms

Modern techniques of lithography make it possible to confine electrons to sufficiently small dimensions that the quantization of both their charge and their energy are easily observable. When such confined electrons are allowed to tunnel to metallic leads a single electron transistor (SET) is created. This transistor turns on and off again every time one electron is added to the isolated region...

Electric field imaging of single atoms

In scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM), single atoms can be imaged by detecting electrons scattered through high angles using post-specimen, annular-type detectors. Recently, it has been shown that the atomic-scale electric field of both the positive atomic nuclei and the surrounding negative electrons within crystalline materials can be probed by atomic-resolution differential pha...