For the first time, Northwestern University physicists have coaxed a single positron — the antimatter counterpart of an electron — into an exquisitely controlled quantum state.
The particle does not have to interact directly with matter to be observable.
Apparently they built what they called a “one-positron quantum cyclotron”, meaning they made their single positron “fly in a circle” with magnetic fields to trap it.
That way you have a moving charge, which you can manipulate with electromagnetic radiation, microwaves in this case, the same way as you could with normal matter. That also means you can make your particle emit electromegnetic radiation that will tell you it is still there without touching anything.
Still kind of mindblowing, that they can reliably detect anything coming from a single positron though.
The particle does not have to interact directly with matter to be observable.
Apparently they built what they called a “one-positron quantum cyclotron”, meaning they made their single positron “fly in a circle” with magnetic fields to trap it.
That way you have a moving charge, which you can manipulate with electromagnetic radiation, microwaves in this case, the same way as you could with normal matter. That also means you can make your particle emit electromegnetic radiation that will tell you it is still there without touching anything.
Still kind of mindblowing, that they can reliably detect anything coming from a single positron though.