Korean physicist successfully steers chemical reactions at cryogenic temperatures

A Korean scientist has published a research paper that can serve as a foundation for studying chemical reactions at the quantum level, paving the way for commercialization of quantum communication and quantum computer technologies in the future.

According to Son Hyung-mok, a Harvard physicist who co-authored a paper published in Science on Mar. 4, he and MIT-Harvard Center for Ultracold Atoms researchers used a magnetic field to enhance or suppress chemical reactions of molecules and atoms cooled at ultralow temperatures by factors of more than 100.

Everything exhibits wave-particle duality, which is the concept in quantum mechanics that every particle or quantum entity can be described as either a particle or a wave. Even macroscopic materials such as desks and people can theoretically be described as waves, but wave properties cannot be observed in reality due to their extremely short wavelength. On the other hand, in the microscopic world, the wave properties of matter can be observed, and at cryogenic temperatures at a millionth of a degree above absolute zero, the wavelength is 1,000 times larger than the size of an atom.

They fine-tuned the waves of atoms and molecules in single quantum states at cryogenic temperatures by using a magnetic field. With this technique, the researchers showed they can steer chemical reactions in an enhancing or suppressing manner. In the past, a Chinese research team observed that a chemical reaction can be controlled with a magnetic field, but the latest research is the first one in providing a physical reason underlying the phenomenon and controlling chemical reactivity by more than 100 times.

¡°This study is of great importance as a basic study to understand chemical reactions at the quantum level. Our finding suggests the possibility of developing a chemical process at the quantum level using electromagnetic waves rather, which is traditionally done using temperature and chemical catalysts,¡± Son explained.

This is an experimental realization of the long-standing dream of physicists and chemists who have wanted to control chemical reactions at the quantum level using electromagnetic waves, said Son, adding this could be an important basis for developing new quantum particles.

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