---
title: "Physics Breakthrough: Quasiparticle Formation Was Observed for the First Time Ever"
description: "Normally formation happens in attoseconds and an attosecond is to a second what a second is to about 31.71 billion years. Further study of the particle could lead to quantum processors and ultra-fast electronics."
date: "2016-10-13"
modified: "2019-10-09"
authors:
  - name: "Dom Galeon"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/domgaleon"
url: "https://futurism.com/physics-breakthrough-quasiparticle-formation-was-observed-for-the-first-time-ever"
categories:
  - "Physics"
  - "Science & Energy"
tags:
  - "quantum computing"
  - "quantum physics"
  - "quasiparticles"
---

# Physics Breakthrough: Quasiparticle Formation Was Observed for the First Time Ever

![electrons are round](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/sparkle-2296656.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Pixabay\</em\>*

## Understanding Quasiparticles

A quasiparticle is a concept of a state or phenomena that occurs in many-body systems or solid-state materials — like when an electron moves through a solid and polarizes its environment, generating a "polarization cloud" that moves together with the electron. This "dressed electron" is a quasiparticle also known as a *polaron*.

Scientists have been struggling to actually observe and measure quasiparticles. "The nonequilibrium dynamics of many-body quantum systems are tricky to study experimentally or theoretically," according to a study published in *[Science](<http://science.sciencemag.org/content/354/6308/96>)* by a team of theoretical physicists led by Rudolf Grimm.

"These processes last only attoseconds, which makes a time-resolved observation of their formation extremely difficult," Grimm explains. An attosecond is one-quintillionth of a second — that's very fast.

The researchers were able to create an environment that slowed the process down a bit, enabling them to observe the birth of an actual quasiparticle called a *Fermi polaron* (essentially, potassium atoms embedded in a lithium cloud).

To do so, they created an ultracold quantum gas, made up of lithium atoms and a small sample of potassium atoms in the middle, using laser trapping techniques inside a vacuum chamber. Then, they applied magnetic fields to tune particle interactions that formed the Fermi polaron.

## The Future of Electronics

Now that a quasiparticle has been observed in real time, the next step is to actually measure it. That remains to be a challenge. However, this development is a step towards making actual [quantum processors](<https://futurism.com/?s=quantum+computing>), a feat that continues to elude many quantum computation researchers.

"We developed a new method for observing the 'birth' of a polaron virtually in real time," says Grimm. Looking into the future, he says: "This may turn out to be a very interesting approach to better understand the quantum physical properties of ultrafast electronic devices."

This major breakthrough in physics could lead to huge leaps in quantum computing and ultra-fast electronics.

### Author social links  
[LinkedIn](<https://www.linkedin.com/in/dominic-john-galeon-9b086925/>)  
[Twitter](<https://x.com/domgaleon>)