- Using a combination of lasers and a unique optical trapping system that provides a cloud of ultra-cold atoms scientists at Berkeley Lab and University of California have detected the smallest force measured so far.
- The force is of 42 yoctonewtons where a yoctonewton is one-septillionth, or 10{+-}{+2}{+4}of a Newton and has a sensitivity closest ever to the Standard Quantum Limit (SQL).
- Space-time ripples Measurements of force and motion at the quantum levels bump against a barrier imposed by the Heisenberg uncertainty principle — when the measurement itself perturbs the measuring device, a phenomenon known as “quantum back-action.
- SQL is this barrier of least possible measurement and most of the techniques employed to measure this had fallen short by 6 to 8 orders of magnitude.
- Read at:http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/researchers-detect-smallest-force-ever-measured/article6157050.ece