Caltech physicists finally measure a quantum energy ladder predicted 40 years ago

Researchers have experimentally observed energy patterns that physicists have predicted for about 40 years. By arranging laser-trapped atoms into a quantum simulator, they recreated two different quantum tipping points and watched the atoms fall into the exact energy ratios predicted by theory. The technique could now be used to explore mysterious quantum systems where scientists do not already know the answer.

Caltech physicists finally measure a quantum energy ladder predicted 40 years ago. The chain sits within a modulated laser field. The evenly spaced lines above represent the ladder of excitation energies predicted by conformal field theory, whose rungs the team measured.

"Physicists call this trait universality — the messy, microscopic details wash out and only a few essential features survive," explains Jason Alicea, William K. Physicists often describe this universal behavior using a mathematical framework known as conformal field theory. Quantum simulators test fundamental physics In a study published in Nature, researchers carried out the first experiments of their kind on two different conformal field theories using quantum simulators.