Isolating Single Atoms: Experiments & Application

[trini]

Hey guys, I'm working on some experiment designs and I'm trying to figure out if its possible to isolate a single atom of a particular element for insertion into an inert gas chamber, so say for eg, i want to take carbon atoms, one at a time, and inject them into a neon gas filled chamber, is there any known way to do so?

 

[f95toli]

I doubt it. People working with ion-traps are getting really good at moving single ions around, both in vacuum and using microtraps (on chips) but as far as I know they can't actually move ions a long distance. Also, trapping is still a very complicated process.

Moreove, there might be an issue with the type of ion; not all ions work equally well when it comes to trapping.

But I might be wrong, look up some info on ion traps.

 

[trini]

ok after browsing around i found out that laser traps do make this possible, reference for others:

http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/news/2660