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Bohrandbeyond:acenturyofquantumphysicsAnalysisandOpinion(ABCScience)

InDepth (/science/indepth/?site=science ) AnalysisandOpinion

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Bohrandbeyond:acenturyofquantumphysics
OurunderstandingofthequantumworldbeganwithNielsBohr'sdiscoveryofthequantumatomin
1913.Bohrwouldbeastoundedbywherehistheoryhassinceled,saysProfessorDavidJamieson.
Bohr'sdiscoveryofthequantumnatureoftheatom,
publishedwhenhewasayoungmanof28,wasan
importantpioneeringcontributiontotheearliestdaysof
quantumphysics.
Thisfieldemergedtoexplainthecommonsensedefying
behaviourofatoms,moleculesandlightatthesmallest
scales,formingthefoundationsonwhichwehavebuilt
oneofthegreatestandmostsuccessfultheoriesofall
timequantummechanics.
WhatisquiteremarkabletomoderneyeswasthatBohr
hadverylittletogoon.
Thetruenatureoftheatomasanincrediblytinynucleus
surroundedbyacloudoforbitingelectronshadonly
beendiscoveredafewyearsearlier,intheseparatework
ofphysicistsThomsonandRutherford.
Bohr'sgeniuswastorecognisethattheseelectronshad
manyrolesinarangeofapparentlydifferentscenarios.
Hesawthatelectronswerebehindtheelectriccurrents
flowinginwires,theredhotglowofmolteniron,and
theproductionoflightfromelectricdischargesingas
filledtubes.

Bohr'smodeldescribesthequantum
behaviourofelectronsandphotons
beautifully,althoughthesolarsystemmodel
oforbitingelectronsisfarfromreality.
(Source:PaulFleet/iStockPhoto)

Bohrtooktheimportantelementsoftheemerging
theoriestoexplainallthesedifferentthings,invented
somenewquantummechanicalprinciplesandmadeit
allwork.

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Bohr's
quantumatom:natureisdigital
Likeothers,Bohrwaskeentodrawonourunderstandingoftheorbitofplanetsaroundthesunin
understandingtheorbitofelectronsinatoms.
Theplanetsareattractedbythepowerfulgravityofthesun,buttheirspeedletsthemsettleintostable
orbitsratherthanspirallingintothesun'sgravitationalfield.
Inthecaseofthepositivelychargednucleusandthenegativelychargedelectron,themutualpullisthe
electricforce.Classicalphysicsdictatesthatanacceleratingcharge(likeanelectroninorbit)mustgive
offelectromagneticradiation.Theenergylostthroughradiationshouldmakeanelectronslowinits
orbitandquicklycrashintothenucleus,whichmeansnoatomcouldbestable.Thiswasclearlynot
true,andBohr'ssolutiontothisconundrumwasthefirstoftwopowerfulideaswithwhichhe
introducedustothequantumatom.
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Bohrandbeyond:acenturyofquantumphysicsAnalysisandOpinion(ABCScience)

Heproposedthatelectronsinatomsareonlystableincertainallowedorbits,whichhecalledstationary
states.Thisideaisanattributeofthewavelikenatureofallmatteratthenanoscale,anditisnow
understoodasafundamentalprincipleofquantummechanics.
Bohr'ssecondideawasthatelectronsdroppingdownfromonestableorbittoanotherwouldradiatea
singlediscretepacketofradiation,intheformofaphotonoflight.Thisshowsthedeepconnection
betweenlightandmatter,andthatphotonsareallornothingthereisnosuchthingashalfaphoton.
Togethertheseideastellusthatnatureisfundamentallydigitalattheatomiclevel,andtheyprovidethe
basisforquantummechanics.

Fromtheorytoevidence

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Bohrwasabletousehisnewtheorytosuccessfullyexplaintheregularitiesinthepatternoflight
emittedfromhothydrogengas,bothinthelaboratoryandintheatmospheresofstarsnearandfar.
Heatedhydrogenemitscharacteristicblue,redandvioletlight.Bohrshowedthatthelightwasgivenoff
byexcitedelectronsastheysettleintoallowedstableorbitsatlowerenergies.Aphotonofeachofthose
coloursoflightcorrespondstotheenergydifferencebetweendifferentallowedorbits.
Theradiationemergingfromtheatomastheelectronssettleintostableorbitscantellusalotaboutthe
nucleus.ShortlyafterBohr'sdiscovery,HenryMoseleydiscoveredthatenergeticphotonsemittedfrom
electronssettlingintocloseorbitsaroundthenucleus,typicallyinthexraypartofthespectrum,could
beusedtodiscovergapsintheperiodictableoftheelementswherenewelementswouldlaterbefound.
Later,Bohr'stheorywasfurtherdevelopedtoexplainmoleculesandthebasisofchemistry.
OneyearafterBohr'stheoryappearedinthescientificjournals,theBritishAssociationforthe
AdvancementofScienceheldits1914meetinginAustralia.IntheoldphysicsbuildingattheUniversity
ofMelbourne,SirErnestRutherfordpresentedareportonthenewandcontroversialtheoryto
delegatesfromtheUnitedKingdom,AustraliaandNewZealand.
Thiswasoneofthefirstpublicoutingsforthetheory.Reportsfromtheconferencegiveastrongsense
oftheexcitementcreatedbyBohr'sradicalideasonedelegateremarked"...Ishouldliketosaythat
althoughIhavecriticisedcertainpartsofBohr'stheoryadversely,noonecanadmiremoreitsingenuity
andgreatsuggestiveness."Thesewerepropheticwords!
Today,Bohr'stheoryisappliedtoarangeofscenariosthatwouldhaveastoundedtheyoungNiels.
HecouldneverhaveimaginedthathisworkwouldleadtoPET(positronemissiontomography)
scannersthatlookinsideourbodies,showingustheeffectofdiseaseslikecanceronthewayourorgans
function.Bohr'stheoryexplainsthemutualorbitofelectronsandpositronsjustbeforetheyannihilate
eachother,transformingintogammaraysthatgiverisetothePETscanimage.
AndrecentbreakthroughshaveledtosomeexcitingnewapplicationsbuiltonBohr'stheory,including
ourworkinnanodiamondsandquantumcomputingattheAustralianCentreofExcellencefor
QuantumComputationandCommunicationTechnology.

Bohrintoday'sscience:nanodiamonds,
quantumcomputers...

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Bohr'stheorycanbeadaptedtoexplainthepeculiarorbitsofelectronsaroundasinglenitrogenatom
insertedintoadiamondcrystal.Thelightphotonsemittedwhentheseelectronschangebetweentheir
stationarystatesisincrediblybright,andsignalstheinternalquantumstateevenatroomtemperature.
Thesestationarystatesaresusceptibletoeventhetiniestmagneticfields,affectingthecolouroflight
givenoff.Whenalivingcellisseededwithnanoscalediamondcrystalscontainingsinglenitrogen
atoms,thewaythecellularelectromagneticmachineryaffectstheemittedlighttellsuswhatisgoingon
atthesetinyscales.Thiscouldhelpuslearnaboutthedynamicsofbiologicalneuralnetworks,whichis
fundamentaltogaininginsightintoinformationprocessinginthebrain.
Wehavealsoshownhowmodernnanotechnologyallowsustoprogramdigitalinformationintothe
quantumatom.Recognisingthatboththeelectronsandthenucleusinthequantumatompossess
angularmomentum,calledspin,wehavediscoveredhowtoamplifyonebillionfoldthesubtle
differenceinenergybetweenthetwostablespinstatesofthenucleusofanengineeredphosphorus
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atominasilicondevice.Thiscouldleadtoaraftofnewtechnologiesbuiltonthequantumatom.
Forexample,insteadofseekinginformationfromthephotonsemergingfromquantumatoms,weuse
photonsinoursingleatomdeviceasameansofartificiallyencodinginformationinthenuclearspin
orientation.Thiscouldbethefoundationalcomponentofalargescalesiliconquantumcomputer.In
thisdevicetheelectronspinisusedforinformationprocessingandreadout,withthenuclearspinused
aslonglivedmemoryforquantuminformation.
Aquantumcomputercouldhaverevolutionaryapplicationstothestorage,processingandtransmission
ofinformation.Thiswouldexploitthebestcharacteristicsofthequantumdomainandthemost
importantmaterialformicroelectronics,silicon,tobuildtheproposedquantuminternetofthemid21st
century.
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...andtheHiggsboson

AfterBohrpublishedhisideasin1913hewentontofoundanimportantinstitutefortheoreticalphysics
inCopenhagen,andhisgreatdiscoverywasrecognisedbyaNobelPrizein1922.Hepledgedsupportfor
foundingtheCERNlaboratoryin1952andthenhostedtheCERNtheoristsinhisinstituteuntilthey
werereadytomovetoGeneva.AustralianinvolvementinCERNledtotheannouncementin2012in
MelbourneandGenevaofthediscoveryoftheHiggsboson,thelatestdiscoveryinthedeepjourneyinto
thequantumatomthatBohrhelpedstartonehundredyearsago!
Abouttheauthor:ProfDavidJamiesonisHeadoftheSchoolofPhysicsofthe
UniversityofMelbourne,andaProgramManagerwiththe CentreofExcellencefor
QuantumComputationandCommunicationTechnology (http://www.cqc2t.org/ ) .His
researchexpertiseisinthefieldofionbeamphysics,particularlyintheuseoffocusedion
beamsformaterialsmodificationandanalysis.

Tags:
physics (/science/tag/browse.htm?site=science&topic=latest&tag=physics )
Published18July2013

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