The moment I looked into an atom with my own eyes…

I saw the power of quantum mechanics in real life, and it blew my mind.

As a second-year Physics PhD student, working in a laser lab. I enjoyed my undergrad at Imperial College London but struggled with the theoretical side. My forte was engineering and project management.

I wanted to be excited by the maths but struggled.

Building lasers

Lasers are amazing tools as you can precisely control light.

I was part of a team that built a high power, ultrafast laser system which could be used to blast jets of gas. From this light/matter interaction we could measure x-rays emitted and use this to freeze-frame the quantum mechanical interaction as the laser light smashed the atoms apart.

This is where the theoretical physicists come in.

Linking theory with reality and seeing the magic of science

It was during a weekly team meeting when the theory guy was showing some simulations of our system when I saw it.

He was explaining that his quantum mechanical calculations indicated that we should see “fringes” on our x-rays, due to the way the electrons in the atoms were being accelerated in our laser beam.

We could do this! I ran downstairs, fired up the laser, adjusted the parameters… and voila… fringes in the x-rays… 🤯

I was staring directly into the heart of an atom in real-time.

Maths and quantum mechanics govern everything

This was a profound moment for me, being able to take years of study and finally connect it to reality.

Science is so beautiful, I wish more people would learn its secrets, it can open your mind to how wonderful our existence is.