Slow load>Rapid fireElectrons in slow motion
The method developed resembles that of "high-speed photography" invented by Eadweard Muybridge more than 100 years ago. "The famous stroboscopic images, or motion pictures, can give an idea of what we did", explains Massimo Capone, researcher at SISSA in Trieste, and among the authors of the paper.
"Muybridge, a bit like us, would take photographs of fast-moving objects, breaking down their motion into many still frames before creating those beautiful images that provide a reconstruction of the path of motion. We did something very similar, in a tiny temporal (and spatial) dimension, using infinitely short light pulses as obturators, to observe ultrafast changes in the properties of a superconductor".
[Glue??]The scientists applied the technique to different families of high-temperature copper oxide superconductors, thereby succeeding in measuring what they define as the "fastest slow process" in a solid, and their findings support the hypothesis that electron interactions in these superconductors are mediated by the spin of ~electrons { never mind the wide ranges of "energies and "velocities" of an electron]
"In general, electron interactions in a solid can be divided into direct interactions, which are virtually instantaneous, and "delayed" interactions, which occur when the electrons interact with other particles (bosons deriving from excitation of the ion network or from magnetic excitations)", explains Capone. "These latter processes are thought to be fundamental for superconductivity to occur, as they form the 'glue' that holds the electrons together in the so-called 'Cooper pairs' underlying the superconducting phenomenon itself".
Nature Physics on Monday 9 March 2015 (doi: 10.1038/nphys3265)"To date, similar experiments carried out with a lower temporal resolution succeeded in accessing only the 'slow' processes related to electron interactions with the vibrations of the crystal network formed by ions (phonons)", explains Cerullo. "In this study, for the first time we measured electron pairing with another family of excitations linked to electron spin and magnetism".
"This pairing", ...
Electrons in slow motion
Pump through enough heat, light or plain raw current; and just about anything will sprog off a resonant body of electron-like charge, (mediated by the ambient EM flux fields).
Nanoscale is interesting for the detectability of some residual "holes".