It has to do with something called "atomic excitation." From the article (emphasis added): When photons pass through a medium ...

Researchers are exploring multi-level atomic interactions to enhance quantum entanglement. Using metastable states in ...

For the last seven years, the study authors have been studying atomic excitation, a phenomenon that occurs as a result of interaction between light and matter. During atomic excitation ...

Interactions between atoms and light rule the behavior of our physical world, but at the same time, can be extremely complex.

Their work focuses on how light interacts with matter, particularly atomic excitation. In this process, photons energise atoms, causing electrons to jump to higher states. When electrons return ...

By utilizing a doughnut-shaped optical vortex beam and a traveling wave Stokes laser beam, researchers can create a highly confined atomic excitation, resulting in a nanometer-scale atomic spot.

Recent studies have employed sophisticated computational methods to explore atomic properties, excitation energies, and transition rates, providing valuable insights into the fundamental physics ...

While the coexistence of different shapes in the atomic nucleus has been known for ... The second focused on γ rays emitted following the de-excitation of a metastable state.