Subscribe

TRENDING Ukraine invasion updates Phy

Live Science is supported by its audience. When you

purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate
commission. Learn more

Schlumberger
LEARN MORE
Electric Energy System

Physicists watch quantum

particles tunnel through
solid barriers. Here's what
they found.
By Diane Lincoln published August 07, 2020

! "
# Comments (10)

(Image credit: Shutterstock)

The quantum world is a pretty wild one,

where the seemingly impossible happens all
the time: Teensy objects separated by miles
are tied to one another, and particles can
even be in two places at once. But one of the
most perplexing quantum superpowers is
the movement of particles through
seemingly impenetrable barriers.

Advertisement

Now, a team of physicists has devised a

simple way to measure the duration of this
bizarre phenomenon, called quantum
tunneling. And they "gured out how long the
tunneling takes from start to "nish — from
the moment a particle enters the barrier,
tunnels through and comes out the other
side, they reported online July 22 in the
journal Nature.

Quantum tunneling is a phenomenon where

an atom or a subatomic particle can appear
on the opposite side of a barrier that should
be impossible for the particle to penetrate.
It's as if you were walking and encountered a
10-foot-tall (3 meters) wall extending as far
as the eye can see. Without a ladder or
Spider-man climbing skills, the wall would
make it impossible for you to continue.

Sponsored Links

Why Are Dubai Villas So Cheap? (Take

A Look)
Buy Villas in Dubai

Related: The 18 biggest unsolved mysteries

in physics

However, in the quantum world, it is rare,

but possible, for an atom or electron to
simply "appear" on the other side, as if a
tunnel had been dug through the wall.
"Quantum tunneling is one of the most
puzzling of quantum phenomena," said
study co-author Aephraim Steinberg, co-
director of the Quantum Information
Science Program at Canadian Institute for
Advanced Research. "And it is fantastic that
we're now able to actually study it in this
way."

Advertisement

PLAY SOUND

Quantum tunneling is not new to physicists.

It forms the basis of many modern
technologies such as electronic chips, called
tunnel diodes, which allow for the
movement of electricity through a circuit in
one direction but not the other. Scanning
tunneling microscopes (STM) also use
tunneling to literally show individual atoms
on the surface of a solid. Shortly after the
"rst STM was invented, researchers at IBM
reported using the device to spell out the
letters IBM using 35 xenon atoms on a nickel
substrate.

While the laws of quantum mechanics allow

for quantum tunneling, researchers still
don't know exactly what happens while a
subatomic particle is undergoing the
tunneling process. Indeed, some researchers
thought that the particle appears
instantaneously on the other side of the
barrier as if it instantaneously teleported
there, Sci-News.com reported.

Advertisement

Ad

Four Seasons Alexandria

Four Seasons Book Now

Researchers had previously tried to measure

the amount of time it takes for tunneling to
occur, with varying results. One of the
di#culties in earlier versions of this type of
experiment is identifying the moment
tunneling starts and stops. To simplify the
methodology, the researchers used magnets
to create a new kind of "clock" that would
tick only while the particle was tunneling.

Subatomic particles all have magnetic

properties and when magnets are in an
external magnetic "eld, they rotate like a
spinning top. The amount of rotation (also
called precession) depends on how long the
particle is bathed in that magnetic "eld.
Knowing that, the Toronto group used a
magnetic "eld to form their barrier. When
particles are inside the barrier, they precess.
Outside it, they don't. So measuring how
long the particles precess told the
researchers how long those atoms took to
tunnel through the barrier.

Advertisement

Ad

Four Seasons Alexandria

Four Seasons Book Now

Related: 18 times quantum particles blew

our minds

"The experiment is a breathtaking technical

achievement," said Drew Alton, physics
professor at Augustana University, in South
Dakota.

The researchers prepared approximately

8,000 rubidium atoms, cooled them to a
billionth of a degree above absolute zero.
The atoms needed to be this temperature,
otherwise they would have moved around
randomly at high speeds, rather than staying
in a small clump. The scientists used a laser
to create the magnetic barrier; they focused
the laser so that the barrier was 1.3
micrometers (microns) thick, or the
thickness of about 2,500 rubidium atoms.
(So if you were a foot thick, front to back,
this barrier would be the equivalent of about
half a mile thick.) Using another laser, the
scientists nudged the rubidium atoms
toward the barrier, moving them about 0.15
inches per second (4 millimeters/s).

As expected, most of the rubidium atoms

bounced o! the barrier. However, due to
quantum tunneling, about 3% of the atoms
penetrated the barrier and appeared on the
other side. Based on the precession of those
atoms, it took them about 0.6 milliseconds
to traverse the barrier.

Advertisement

RELATED
%
—The 11 biggest unanswered questions
about dark matter
—Infographic: How quantum entanglement
works
—The 12 most important and stunning
quantum experiments

Chad Orzel, an associate professor of

physics at Union College in New York, who
was not part of the study, applauded the
experiment, "Their experiment is ingeniously
constructed to make it di#cult to interpret
as anything other than what they say," said
Orzel, author of "How to Teach Quantum
Mechanics to Your Dog" (Scribner, 2010) It
"is one of the best examples you'll see of a
thought experiment made real," he added.

Experiments exploring quantum tunneling

are di#cult and further research is needed
to understand the implications of this study.
The Toronto group is already considering
improvements to their apparatus to not only
determine the duration of the tunneling
process, but to also see if they can learn
anything about velocity of the atoms at
di!erent points inside the barrier. "We're
working on a new measurement where we
make the barrier thicker and then determine
the amount of precession at di!erent
depths," Steinberg said. "It will be very
interesting to see if the atoms' speed is
constant or not."

Advertisement

Ad

Four Seasons Alexandria

Four Seasons Book Now

In many interpretations of quantum

mechanics, it is impossible — even in
principle — to determine a subatomic
particle's trajectory. Such a measurement
could lead to insights into the confusing
world of quantum theory. The quantum
world is very di!erent from the world we're
familiar with. Experiments like these will
help make it a little less mysterious.

Originally published on Live Science.

Diane Lincoln
Live Science Contributor

Diane Lincoln is the author of "Science

Discovery Files," a non-"ction science
book published by World Scienti"c. She
is a former science teacher, with two
decades of
experience bringing fascinating science
stories to life for her students. She
holds a Doctorate in Education and has
taught graduate-level courses in science
education to
teachers wanting to hone their skills.
She has written for online media outlets
such as Live Science and Science News
for Students. Diane has won awards for
her "ctional
stories and poetry in print media, and
she has published a book of poetry.

MORE ABOUT... LATEST

Is the Leaning Massive meteorite

Tower of Pisa really impact created the
falling over? $ hottest mantle rock
ever $

SEE MORE LATEST $

# SEE ALL COMMENTS (10)

Massive meteorite impact created

the hottest mantle rock ever
It's confirmed: The hottest rock ever
discovered in Earth's crust really was super-…
Livescience

Why Are Dubai Villas So Cheap?

(Take A Look)
Buy Villas in Dubai | Sponsored

Get Donations from USA for Your

Business in As Salimiyah
Fast Accessible Financing To Small
Businesses
Donations | Search Ads | Sponsored

Work as a nurse in the USA (see

their salaries)
Nursing jobs in US | Search ads | Sponsored

10 COMMENTS COMMENT FROM THE FORUMS $

tommytoes
Trying to wrap my head around the math
here and was hoping someone could help
me out.

moving them about 0.15 inches per

second (4 millimeters/s)
barrier was 1.3 micrometers (microns)
thick
it took them about 0.6 milliseconds to
traverse the barrier

Was there a rate of acceleration or

deceleration here upon encountering the
barrier? It...
Read More

REPLY $

David F Walter

tommytoes said:

MOST POPULAR

Skin cells made 30 years younger

with new 'rejuvenation' technique
By Siddhi Camila Lama 1 day ago

Why is chocolate bad for dogs?

By Remy Melina, Mindy Weisberger 1 day ago

Dozens of unexplained cases of liver

inflammation seen in UK children
By Nicoletta Lanese 3 days ago

Zoo anteater exposed people to

rabies in first-of-its-kind case
By Rachael Rettner 4 days ago

Sudden eruption from 'dead'

sunspot could bring auroras as far
south as New York
By Elizabeth Howell 4 days ago

Ultra-rare black hole ancestor

detected at the dawn of the universe
By Brandon Specktor 4 days ago

The sun has blasted Mercury with a

plasma wave
By Ben Turner 4 days ago

No, the Loch Ness Monster was not a

whale's penis
By Harry Baker 4 days ago

Tardigrades may hitchhike on snails

... and then suffocate in their slime
By Mindy Weisberger 4 days ago

'Secret code' behind key type of

memory revealed in new brain scans
By Nicoletta Lanese 4 days ago

LIVE SCIENCE NEWSLETTER

Stay up to date on the latest science news

by signing up for our Essentials newsletter.

Your Email Address

Contact me with news and o!ers from other

Future brands

Receive email from us on behalf of our

trusted partners or sponsors

SIGN ME UP

By submitting your information you agree to the Terms &

Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.

MOST READ MOST SHARED

1 UFOs left 'radiation burns' and

'unaccounted for pregnancies,' new
Pentagon report claims

2 'Magic mushroom' compound creates a

hyper-connected brain to treat
depression

3 Large meningitis outbreak among gay,

bisexual men in Florida, CDC warns

4 Spanish police seize more than 1,000

stu!ed animals, including endangered
and extinct species