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<\/div>A special laser (red) can spiralise electrons (blue)<\/p>\n
Dr. Yiqi Fang, University of Konstanz<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n
An electron has been turned into a spiralling wave of mass and charge, with the help of a laser.<\/p>\n
\u201cChirality, or handedness, is an interesting and still in part enigmatic feature of our universe,\u201d says Peter Baum<\/a> at the University of Konstanz in Germany. Chiral objects, like coils or L-shaped blocks, come in either left or right-handed forms; non-chiral ones, like circles or straight lines, do not. Many molecules and materials are naturally chiral<\/a>, and whether they are right or left-handed changes how they function. But Baum and his colleagues devised a way to add chirality to something very small and elementary \u2013 a single electron.<\/p>\n Electrons are quantum objects, so they exhibit both particle-like and wave-like behaviour<\/a>, depending on the experiment. In this one, the researchers took advantage of the electron\u2019s waviness. They first created an extremely quick pulse of electrons, then passed this through thin ceramic membranes, where the particles encountered a special laser beam. The beam was shaped like a swirling vortex of light<\/a> and, as a result, it carried a similarly shaped electromagnetic field. This field affected the wave function<\/a>, or the wave properties, of each electron that passed through it.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Finally, the researchers detected these manipulated electrons and calculated the \u201cexpectation values\u201d for the mass and charge of each \u2013 where in space you would be most likely to measure non-zero amounts of both traits. These regions of space formed shapes: three-dimensional coils that were distinctly left or right-handed.<\/p>\n