[HN Gopher] Physicists steer chemical reactions by magnetic fiel...
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       Physicists steer chemical reactions by magnetic fields and quantum
       interference
        
       Author : wrycoder
       Score  : 33 points
       Date   : 2022-03-09 16:10 UTC (2 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (phys.org)
 (TXT) w3m dump (phys.org)
        
       | westurner wrote:
       | Perhaps also practical for intersecting applications: "These
       | Superabsorbent Batteries Charge Faster the Larger They Get: In
       | the lab, the prototype quantum batteries are charged with light"
       | https://spectrum.ieee.org/quantum-battery :
       | 
       | > _Previous work found that matter could act collectively in
       | surprising ways due to quantum physics. For example, in
       | "superradiance," a group of atoms charged up with energy can
       | release a far more intense pulse of light than they could
       | individually._
       | 
       | > _In the past decade, researchers have also discovered the
       | reverse of superradiance was possible--superabsorption, with
       | atoms cooperating to display enhanced absorption. However, until
       | now superabsorption was seen for only small numbers of atoms._
       | 
       | [...]
       | 
       | > _The new device consists of a reflective waferlike microcavity
       | enclosing a semiconducting organic Lumogen F orange dye, which
       | the researchers charged with energy using a laser. Ultrafast
       | detectors helped the team monitor the way in which this dye
       | charged and stored light energy at femtosecond resolution. As the
       | microcavity size and the number of dye molecules increased, the
       | charging time decreased._
       | 
       | Could a combo PV photovoltaic, storage, full-spectrum e.g. LED
       | product for outdoor and/or indoor applications be created with
       | super absorption, , and superradiance?
       | 
       | Maybe also wrap the thing in thin film (and/or graphene sheets
       | that throw off electrons) to harvest energy off the thermal
       | gradient around the unit; and shape it like self-cleaning petals.
        
       | hinkley wrote:
       | Does this mean we're finally learning how to do enzymatic
       | reactions without the enzyme?
       | 
       | Also I wonder what this is going to end up teaching us about EM
       | fields and organisms. Maybe the tinfoil hats weren't entirely
       | wrong...
        
         | pcj-github wrote:
         | This is super simple atoms at a millionth of a degree above
         | zero. It has no practical relevance to influencing the outcome
         | of a chemical reaction at normal temperatures. But, it's not
         | every day you can demonstrate a new way to tune chemical
         | reactions, even in extremely specialized environments like
         | these.
        
         | rsfern wrote:
         | This is super cool, but I think it's pretty far from the kind
         | of catalysis that enzymes do, it's an ultra cold reaction of
         | some like diatomic Na-Li compound. (Molecule?)
        
       | Terry_Roll wrote:
       | Doesnt everything with electrons have a magnetic field that
       | corresponds to the size & number electrons?
       | 
       | https://ece.northeastern.edu/fac-ece/nian/mom/magfields.html
       | 
       | The joys of small things!
        
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       (page generated 2022-03-11 23:00 UTC)