Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Science 2 April 2004:
Vol. 304. no. 5667, pp. 56 - 57
DOI: 10.1126/science.1095768
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Perspectives

PHYSICS:
Nanomechanical Quantum Limits

Miles Blencowe

Quantum effects usually manifest themselves only in the microscopic world of atoms, whereas macroscopic objects of the everyday world follow the classical laws of Newtonian mechanics. But can large objects also behave quantum mechanically? In his Perspective, Blencowe discusses work reported in the same issue by LaHaye et al. on attempts to observe the phenomenon of Heisenberg's uncertainty principle in a relatively large vibrating beam. Although still small by everyday standards, the microfabricated beam consists of about 1012 atoms. The measurements indicate that the apparatus is within striking distance of direct observation of quantum fluctuations.

The author is in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, 6127 Wilder Laboratory, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH 03755, USA. E-mail: miles.p.blencowe{at}dartmouth.edu

Read the Full Text

To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)