In the 1880s, Henry Hertz made a revolutionary discovery, finding that the spark flying between two pieces of metal emits a flash of light – rapidly fluctuating electromagnetic waves that can be caught with the help of the antenna. In honor of his innovative work in 1930, a unit of frequency was called “Herz”. The results of Hertz’s research were later used by Gulelmo Marconi (Nobel Laureate in 1909 Physics) to transmit information over long distances, which laid the beginning of radio communications and revolutionized wireless telegraphy, forming a modern world.
More than a century later, scientists from the faculty of physics and the Regensburg Center for Superbuilding Nanoscopy (Run) of the University of Regensburg could directly observe the quantum version of the Sparks of Hertz, jumping between only two atoms. Using the latest technique of “Middle Optical Tunneling of the Near Field” (NOTE), they managed to measure the oscillogram of radiated light with unprecedented temporary accuracy exceeding one cycle of fluctuations in the light wave. This discovery opens up new horizons for studying quantum phenomena on an atomic scale and demonstrates how the fundamental discoveries of the past continue to inspire scientists to new achievements in modern science.
The basis of NOTE is the use of a oversight atomic tip, which focuses light in a tiny gap between the tip and the surface of the sample. This method allows you to see how electrons behaving simultaneously as particles and how waves move through this gap under the influence of the oscillating electric field of light.
“At first it seemed that to detect Hertz radiation from several electrons for the cycle of fluctuations in light is a mission is impossible,” says the first author of the study of Tom Sidey. However, thanks to the ultra-stalism of the tip, which serves the antenna, it was possible to catch a strong signal.
This discovery allowed scientists to observe the waves of matter at the atomic level and explore the dynamics of processes that occur faster than a trillion fraction of a second. Results of the study published in the journal Nature and promise new opportunities for the development of ultra-suffering quantum technologies and understanding the dynamics of electrons in quantum materials, which can radically change modern technologies in the field of computing and storage of data.
“Electronics is extremely sensitive, but too slow for direct observation of current fluctuations in a quantum spark, so you have to study the fluctuations of the emitted light,” explains the