Sensors collect certain parameters such as temperature and air pressure in their proximity. Physicists from Kaiserslautern and a colleague from Hanover have succeeded for the first time in using a single cesium atom as a sensor for ultracold temperatures. To determine the measured data, they used quantum states—the spin or angular momentum of the atom. With these spins, they measured the temperature of an ultra-cold gas and the magnetic field. The system is characterized by a particularly high sensitivity. Such sensors could be used in the future, for example, to investigate quantum systems without interference. The work was published in the journal Physical Review X.
Source:
https://phys.org/news/2020-02-single-atom-probe-quantum.html