Noah Schlossberger

A thermometer that doesn't lie for years. Ordinary resistance thermometers, even very accurate ones, start to err over time: the material ages, contacts oxidize, and readings drift. The new quantum thermometer works differently: it uses the rubidium atoms themselves as a reference.

Two roads on a map converge at a single point, but drivers know there is no intersection there: one route passes over the other on a bridge. Energy levels of a Rydberg atom in a varying electric field behave in much the same way. As the field strengthens, the levels draw closer, but instead of merging, they repel and diverge, leaving a gap between them.