The fastest synthetic rotating object to help the science of quantum mechanics

July 20 (UPI) – The creators of the fastest artificial rotor in the world believe that their invention will stimulate the study of quantum mechanics, the branch of physics devoted to the behavior of subatomic particles.

can run at a rate of 60 billion revolutions per minute. Most aircraft turbines end at 3,000 rpm

Scientists have described their impressive new device this week in the journal Physical Review Letters

"This study has many applications, including hardware science ". of physics and astronomy at Purdue University, said in a press release. "We can study the extreme conditions in which different materials can survive."

The rotor is composed of a tiny dumbbell of silica. Scientists used a laser to levitate the dumbbell in a vacuum. The shape spin of the laser light determines whether the dumbbell vibrates or turns. The device works like two instruments in one.

When the laser light is circularly polarized and the dumbbell rotates, the device operates as a rotor, and when the laser is pulsed and the dumbbell vibrates, the device functions as a torsion balance. a small instrument capable of measuring small forces and couples.

Scientists have already used torsion balancing devices to study gravity and measure the density of the Earth. Researchers believe the new device will help them analyze vacuum friction and better understand quantum physics.

"People say that there is nothing in the void, but in physics we know it's not really empty." There are a lot of virtual particles that can stay for a short time and then disappear, we want to understand what's really going on, and that's why we want to do the most sensitive torsion balance. "

Scientists used a similar approach to spin tiny particles at 60 billion revolutions per minute.They described their article in the same journal.Although Swiss scientists also believe that technology could help a variety of scientific efforts, they were at the same time. Originally just motivated by curiosity and pride. "To be honest," Rene Reimann, a researcher at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, said in a press release, "It was really great. 39, have the mechanical object rot the fastest in the world before us. "