Researchers generate, for the first time, a vortex beam of atoms and molecules

Vortices may conjure a mental image of whirlpools and tornadoes--spinning bodies of water and air--but they can also exist on much smaller scales. In a new study published in Science, researchers from the Weizmann Institute of Science, together with collaborators from the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology and Tel Aviv University, have created, for the first time, vortices made of a single atom. These vortices could help answer fundamental questions about the inner workings of the subatomic...