Quantum channel made of light

Two vessels filled with gas and connected by a channel -- this is the basic setting for the experiments carried out by the physicists at the ETH Institute for Quantum Electronics. As one vessel contains more gas than the other, particles flow through the channel from one side to the other. "The question now is how the conductivity changes as we gradually make the channel narrower," says physics professor Tilman Esslinger. Initially, the conductivity decreases smoothly. However, at some point an amazing phenomenon appears: the conductivity does not change continuously anymore, but in steps, and the size of the steps is determined by a fundamental entity known as the Planck constant. "This is an immediate consequence of quantum physics," explains Esslinger.

The phenomenon has been observed before, but only in electronic systems, such as in quantum point contacts in specific semiconductor structures. "We have now observed for the first time quantisation of conductivity in neutral matter; that is, for particles that are not charged," says Esslinger. "This experiment is certainly something for the quantum-physics textbooks."