Using laser tweezers, chemists nudged two atoms to bond
It’s the first time chemists have manipulated two atoms to create a compound. For the first time, researchers have played matchmaker between two specific atoms, joining them together to form a molecule. Typically, chemists make molecules by mixing up many constituent atoms, some of which stick to each other to form the desired compounds. In the new, supercontrolled chemical reaction, researchers trapped a single sodium atom in one optical tweezer — a device that snares small particles in a laser beam — and a cesium atom in another tweezer. Both atoms were cooled to less than one ten-thousandth of...
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