Researchers have managed to concentrate light down tinier than an atom, in order to examine chemical bonds that occur inside molecules, by employing the properties of small particles of gold.
Their results have opened a new path of studying light and matter, through the means of conducting electrons.
The study was created as a collaboration between scientists from the University of Cambridge and their European colleagues; the team employed conductive nanoparticles of gold in order to create the smallest optical cavity so far. The gap is so small that no more than a single molecule can fit inside it.
Studying One Atom In Real Time
The study was published in the journal Science, and it brings the interaction of light and matter under a new light. It is not scientifically possible to make molecules undergo chemical reactions, which could result in new types of sensors.
It has been scientifically believed (for centuries) that light, being a wave, cannot be singularized in a smaller container than its wavelength. However, as part of this research, the world's tiniest magnifying glass ever was designed, which allowed light to be focused up to a billion times more tightly than previously thought.
According to the team of scientists, designing the nanostructures to fit one single atom was extremely challenging, as they had to cool the samples to -260 °C for the freeing of the scurrying gold atoms to be possible, according to the lead author of the research.
Consequently, laser light was directed towards the sample in order for the pico-cavities to be designed, which finally permitted them to observe one atom movement in real time. The discovery is a scientific first, and the models the scientists employed advance the idea that individual atoms could act as lighting rods in these types of interaction. However, they would focus light, and not electricity.
Impact On The Study Of Molecular Reactions
According to professor Jeremy Baumberg, lead author of the study, one gold atom behaves as a tiny metallic ball bearing as part of this specific type of molecular interaction, while conducting electrons roam around it. The activity is significantly different from the quantum behavior they exhibit; as part of their quantum activity, electrons usually bond to their nucleus, unlike what the results of these experiments suggested.
The study's conclusions could possibly change the way we understand the very light-catalyzed chemical reactions, as they could permit designing complex molecules from tiny compounds. Consequently, creating new opti-mechanical data storage devices could also be possible as a result to this research's findings.
