Helium atom precision measurements and calculations have a history of nearly a century. In the 1960s, theorists discovered that the fine-structure split (23P0-23P2) of the 23P energy level of helium ...

Neutral helium microscopy and atom optics constitute an innovative imaging paradigm that exploits low-energy, charge-neutral helium atoms to non-destructively investigate surface properties at the ...

Artificial atoms allow scientists to push the laws of physics to the limit, gaining insight into what we are familiar with already and what we are yet to discover. Researchers have now created a new ...

In a feat of modern-day alchemy, atom tinkerers have fooled hydrogen atoms into accepting a helium atom as one of their own. The camouflaged atom behaves chemically like hydrogen, but has four times ...

A newly devised nozzle fitted with a pinhole-sized capillary has allowed researchers to distribute helium atoms with X-ray-like waves on randomly shaped surfaces. The technique could power the ...

A recent experimental measurement has identified a significant discrepancy between theoretical predictions and the observed behavior of the helium-4 nucleus. The work of an international collaboration ...

Physicists have created the first-ever atomic vortex beam — a swirling tornado of atoms and molecules with mysterious properties that have yet to be understood. By sending a straight beam of helium ...

In Wednesday's issue of Nature, a new paper describes a potentially useful way of measuring the interactions between normal matter and exotic particles, like antiprotons and unstable items like kaons ...