Curiosity-driven research can yield exciting discoveries. The latest is an accidental breakthrough by Australian engineers that has unintentionally solved a 58-year old mystery in quantum science.
好奇心驱动的研究可以产生令人兴奋的发现。最近，澳大利亚工程师的一项意外突破，无意中解开了量子科学领域一个长达58年的谜团。
As described in the journal Nature, they have worked out how to do what Nobel Laureate Nicolaas Bloembergen first suggested in 1961 but no-one has yet cracked: control the nucleus of a single atom using electric rather than magnetic fields.
正如《自然》(Nature)杂志所描述的，他们已经找到了诺贝尔奖得主尼古拉•布隆伯根(Nicolaas Bloembergen) 1961年首次提出、但至今无人破解的方法:利用电场而非磁场来控制单个原子的原子核。
The discovery is a big deal.
这一发现意义重大。
It will simplify the control of individual atoms placed in nano electric devices, with implications for overhauling nuclear magnetic resonance – a technique used in a diverse range of fields such as modern physics, medicine, chemistry and mining.
它将简化对置于纳米电子设备中的单个原子的控制，并对核磁共振技术的革新产生影响。核磁共振技术广泛应用于现代物理、医学、化学和采矿等领域。
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) machines, for instance, are used by hospitals to make three-dimensional images of the inside of a patient’s body without making any cuts, says lead scientist Andrea Morello from the University of New South Wales.
例如，新南威尔士大学的首席科学家安德里亚·莫雷罗(Andrea Morello)说，医院使用磁共振成像仪对病人的身体内部进行三维成像，而不需要进行任何切割。
“It works by detecting the presence of hydrogen nuclear spins within the body,” he explains, “and it does so by applying pulses of oscillating magnetic fields.
他解释说:“它的工作原理是通过在人体内探测到氢原子核自旋的存在，并通过施加振荡磁场的脉冲来实现。”。
“What we (re)-discovered is that a similar result can be obtained by using electric, instead of magnetic fields.”
“我们(重新)发现，使用电场而不是磁场也可以得到类似的结果。”
UNSW/TONY MELOV
Although this had been theoretically proposed decades ago, it turned out to be extremely difficult to apply in practice, “so it was effectively forgotten for half a century”, Morello says, until his team’s random stroke of luck.
尽管这一理论早在几十年前就提出了，但在实践中却极其困难，“所以它实际上被遗忘了半个世纪”，莫雷洛说，直到他的团队偶然的运气。
Their research seeks to understand how the “classical” world we experience emerges from the microscopic quantum world.
他们的研究旨在了解我们所经历的“经典”世界是如何从微观量子世界中浮现出来的。
“This experiment requires ‘kicking’ the nucleus with very strong oscillating magnetic fields, to make its evolution chaotic. But as we did so, we inadvertently damaged (like a fuse) the antenna that delivers these magnetic fields to the nucleus.”
“这个实验需要用非常强的振荡磁场‘踢’原子核，让它的演化变得混乱。但就在我们这么做的时候，我们无意中损坏了(像保险丝一样)向原子核传递磁场的天线。”
The damaged antenna could then only produce an electric field. What surprised them was that the experiment still worked.
受损的天线只能产生电场。但让他们吃惊的是这个实验仍然有效。
The big difference between electric and magnetic fields is how they spread out. Electric fields are produced by an electrode and decay very quickly, making them much easier to shield – think Faraday cage, says Morello – than magnetic fields, which spread out more.
电场和磁场的最大区别在于它们是如何分布的。电场是由电极产生的，并且衰减得非常快，这使得它们更容易被屏蔽，就像法拉第笼一样，而磁场则分散得更广。
“Our research involves controlling individual atoms at the nanometre scale, to build quantum computers and quantum sensors; being able to address the atoms by electric fields will give us a great advantage, because we will be able to localise the fields around each atom.”
“我们的研究包括在纳米尺度上控制单个原子，建造量子计算机和量子传感器;能通过电场定位原子将会给我们带来巨大的优势，因为我们将能够定位每个原子周围的电场。”
He describes it like trying to move a ball on a billiard table – using magnetic fields would be like shaking the whole table, which will move all the balls and spoil the game.
他把它描述为试图在台球桌上移动一个球——使用磁场就像摇动整个桌子，这会移动所有的球并破坏游戏。
“Doing it by electric fields, instead, is like being handed an actual stick, with which you can just hit the ball you want to move.”
“相反，通过电场来做，就像递给你一根真正的棍子，你可以用它来打你想要移动的球。”
Morello is excited about the potential applications, from understanding how the world we experience arises from the quantum realm to building sensors of electromagnetic fields with greater sensitivity.
从理解我们所经历的世界如何从量子领域产生，到建造灵敏度更高的电磁场传感器，莫雷洛对潜在的应用感到兴奋。
“And all this, in a simple electronic device made in silicon, controlled with small voltages applied to a metal electrode!”
“而这一切，都是在一个简单的硅制电子装置里，用施加在金属电极上的小电压来控制的!”
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