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Breakthrough on Blinking Molecules Phenomena Tuesday, November 30, 2010 - Ehud Rattner Home >> News >> Physics   
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Physicists from the University of Notre Dame discovered new evidence that might lead to a breakthrough in quantum physics. Their experiments dealt with a phenomenon called “blinking molecules”, which was considered one of quantum physics’ mysteries.
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Known physicist Neils Bohr, a Noble Prize-winner, predicted more than a century ago a phenomenon called “quantum jumps.” Although controversial in Bohr’s time, such quantum jumps were observed experimentally, and his prediction verified in the 1980s. During the 1990s, the technology to image single molecules matured, and it became possible to observe similar jumps in individual molecules. Apparently, Bohr’s theory is incomplete, as his predictions are fulfilled only in some cases. For many years scientists tried to understand what the cause was behind this inconsistency; to do so they tried to isolate the cases in which the observed fluorescence intermittency did not follow Bohr’s predictions. Specifically, in systems including individual inorganic nanostructures, clear deviations occur. In a new paper appearing in the journal Nano Letters, Boldizsár Jankó, Pavel Frantsuzov, and Sándor Volkán-Kascó from Notre Dame University reveal a new model, developed to research the blinking phenomena. Their work is preceded by a 2008 paper, which provides a deeper insight into the physical mechanism behind the vast range of on- and off-times in the intermittency. Now, they are confirming that strong correlation exists between the on and off phenomenon. The experiments conducted by Jankó, Frantsuzov, and Volkán-Kascó were possible thanks to newly developed techniques that did not exist previously. They are suggesting ways to control the blinking process, so scientists could use quantum dots in various fields. Some possible benefits derived from such manipulations are: more stable imaging of cancer cells: real-time images of a viral infection—such as HIV—within a cell, and developing a new generation of brighter display screens for computers, cell phones, and other electronic applications. Hopefully, future research – based on these groundbreaking experiments – will help materialize the aforementioned benefits. TFOT has also covered the new quantum sensors developed by researchers from Oxford University, and a research study dealing with superimposed quantum dots that are able to “trap” single electrons. For more information about the breakthrough on blinking molecules phenomena, see University of Notre Dame’s press release. |
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The picture reminds me of what I saw on a display that was monitoring radioactive decay. I would walk by the display everyday and notice patterns. I would call them "stair casing", "flattening","randomizing", and so forth. The decay pattern did not seem to be truly random (as we were taught in school). The material however, had been electrolyzed in a previous experiment. You can read more at: http://scripturalphysics.org/qm/qmconcpt.htm#TemporalInterference-Silv erman and http://scripturalphysics.org/qm/adven.html |
