beginning with laser cooling to create the record-breaking molecules. Related: How do lasers work? This cooling method uses laser beams fired from all directions at a moving atom. The atom absorbs ...

Laser-cooled atoms have been a fruitful test bed for the study of quantum mechanics. Cooling whole molecules to temperatures in the microkelvin range and below, however, is a little more difficult ...

The researchers sent the molecules into the X-ray laser beam using a fine gas nozzle, which means that only single, isolated molecules are irradiated at a time. An additional UV pulse, irradiated ...