Like soft serve ice cream, beams of atoms and molecules now come with a swirl. Vortex beams made of light or electrons have shown promise for making special types of microscope images and for ...

"We have demonstrated that by using optical vortex beams—light beams that carry angular momentum —we can precisely control how an electron is ejected from an atom," explains Professor Bhardwaj. "This ...

This calculated diffraction image shows how forked diffraction gratings shape the atoms' wave function into a vortex. (Courtesy: Science/AAAS) A wave-like property previously only seen in beams of ...

Scientists in Japan have shown that surface features only one atom high can direct the motion of quantum vortices through an ...

A giant quantum vortex may allow researchers to study black holes. This vortex is an eddy in a special form of liquid helium that displays quantum effects. The result has some properties similar to ...