A team from the University of Chicago has announced the first evidence for “quantum superchemistry”—a phenomenon where particles in the same quantum state undergo collective accelerated reactions. The effect had been predicted, but never observed in the laboratory.
The findings, published July 24 in Nature Physics, open the door to a new field. Scientists are intensely interested in what are known as “quantum-enhanced” chemical reactions, which could have applications in quantum chemistry, quantum computing, and other technologies, as well as in better understanding the laws of the universe.
“What we saw lined up with the theoretical predictions,” said Cheng Chin, a professor of physics and member of the James Franck Institute and Enrico Fermi Institute, whose lab conducted the research. “This has been a scientific goal for 20 years, so it’s a very exciting era.”
Chin’s lab specializes in working with particles held at very, very low temperatures. Near absolute zero, particles can link up so that they are all in the same quantum state—where they can display unusual abilities and behaviors.
It had been theorized that a group of atoms and molecules in the same quantum state would behave differently during chemical reactions, but the difficulty in orchestrating the experiment meant it had never been observed.
2023-08-08 03:00:04
Link from phys.org