Recent achievement advances research in molecular physics

BY JAMES J. LIDINGTON

Control of quantum chemistry at extremely cold temperatures came one step closer to reality April 30 with the confinement of two disparate types of atoms at a lab in the Oceanography and Physics Building.

Charles Sukenik, assistant professor of physics at Old Dominion, explained how he simultaneously confined ultracold rubidium and metastable argon atoms using laser light forces in a specially designed "magneto-optical trap."

Trapping an alkali atom (rubidium) and a noble gas atom (argon) at temperatures near absolute zero had never been done, according to Sukenik, who has been conducting research in this area for the past two years.

"It's not an exaggeration to say that this opens up a whole new avenue of study in molecular physics at ultracold temperatures," Sukenik said.

The achievement also clears the way to numerous basic research studies in physics, astrophysics and chemistry. Eventual applications may include the building of complex molecules one atom at a time, the creation of novel molecular beams for lithography and new developments in quantum information storage.

"It is exciting," said Colm Whelan, chair of the Old Dominion physics department. "There has been a lot of effort put into trapping atoms in recent years but this is the first time anyone has succeeded in trapping two atoms from different groups in the periodic table at the same time.

"It is quite a breakthrough with potentially very significant implications for both chemistry and physics."

The elements argon (a colorless, odorless chemical element of the noble gases constituting nearly 1 percent of the atmosphere) and rubidium (a soft, silvery-white metallic chemical element) can form a weakly bound molecule in a low-energy state, Sukenik said. Generally, though, past studies have been done only in hot vapor cells.

Ultracold research is instrumentation-intensive and, because of system limitations, the pairing of elements that Sukenik achieved had not been studied, the researcher said.

"There were many unanswered questions about the interaction of these species of elements. Because measurements hadn't been done before, it wasn't clear if they could be done."

Sukenik plans to continue his research in this area and publish his findings in physics journals.