Electron Vortex Could Trap Atoms

From New Scientist:

Set a beam of electrons twisting, and the resulting vortex could be just the tool to manipulate atoms.

"This is a fundamentally new state that we can bring electrons into," says Jo Verbeeck from the University of Antwerp, Belgium.

Optical vortices, made of twisting beams of light, have been used to spin or move micrometre-sized particles like cells. But electron vortices could potentially trap much smaller particles, says Verbeeck.

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