Synthetic Dirac monopoles visualised
17 Mar 2014 by Evoluted New Media
Eighty years ago, Paul Dirac discovered a quantum-mechanical structure which allowed the existence of magnetic monopoles, a framework which has now been experimentally realised.
Researchers from Aalto University and Amherst College have created and photographed synthetic magnetic monopoles under laboratory conditions, laying the foundations for the underlying structure of the natural magnetic monopole. The detection of the elusive particle would be a revolutionary event on a par with the discovery of the electron.
The fundamentally quantum-mechanical structure of the monopole has not previously been observed in any physical system. The results – reported in Nature – show the configuration in an ultracold atomic gas.
“The creation of a synthetic magnetic monopole should provide us with unprecedented insight into aspects of the natural monopole,” said David S. Hall from the Department of Physics at Amherst College, where the synthetic magnetic monopoles were created.
“It’s not every day that you get to poke and prod the analogue of an elusive fundamental particle under highly controlled conditions in the laboratory.”
Dr Mikko Möttönen, leader of the theoretical and computational part of the research at Aalto University, said this synthesis is a starting point for many new breakthroughs in quantum physics research.
“Our achievement opens up amazing avenues for quantum research. It feels incredible to have been a part of such a major breakthrough,” he said. “In the future, we want to get even more complete correspondence with the natural magnetic monopole.”
Evidence for magnetic monopoles has been sought in sources as diverse as lunar samples and ancient micas, even the Large Hadron Collider at CERN has been used in the search but no natural magnetic monopoles have been convincingly identified.
Observation of Dirac monopoles in a synthetic magnetic field
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSDoIf5FY2s
