Researchers have produced an exotic molecule that looks like a butterfly, with electron wings, by combining giant and normal-sized rubidium atoms. The achievement completes a two-decade search for a family of such giant molecules and may enable further advances in quantum science.
The molecule was assembled at RPTU University Kaiserslautern-Landau in Germany. Scientists cooled rubidium atoms to within a few millionths of a degree of absolute zero, then used lasers to enlarge some atoms dramatically before binding an outer electron to a neighboring atom. The resulting structure measures roughly 25 nanometres across and responds to electric fields far more strongly than ordinary molecules.