Ions subjected to buffer gas cooling never truly reach the same temperature as the surrounding gas
According to the basic laws of thermodynamics, if you leave a warm apple pie in a winter window eventually the pie would cool down to the same temperature as the surrounding air. (more…)
The next generation of computers promises far greater power and faster processing speeds than today’s silicon-based based machines. These “quantum computers” — so called because they would harness the unique quantum mechanical properties of atomic particles — could draw their computing power from a collection of super-cooled molecules.
But chilling molecules to a fraction of a degree above absolute zero, the temperature at which they can be manipulated to store and transmit data, has proven to be a difficult challenge for scientists. (more…)
