Published:
A "nearly ideal realization" of a physics textbook model: Bands of scattered neutrons (colors at top) correspond to energy levels quantized in 50 meV lumps (bottom).
Researchers at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory have found that nitrogen atoms in the compound uranium nitride exhibit unexpected, distinct vibrations that form a nearly ideal realization of a physics textbook model known as the isotropic quantum harmonic oscillator.