The One-Electron Cyclotron 19 August 1999 Meher Antia Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Tiny cyclotron.
Cyclotrons accelerate charged particles as they orbit in circles in a magnetic field.
Every student of quantum mechanics studies the simple system of an electron orbiting in circles in a magnetic field. But even physicists may be surprised that the experiment is a lot harder than the math. Until recently, experimenters could directly probe isolated electrons in only their ground state and first excited state without destroying the system during the measurement. But in the 16 August PRL a pair of Harvard researchers shows how to trap a single electron in a magnetic field and coax it into four different excited energy levels. In the past, researchers have successfully used several different methods to create artificial atoms.