Part of the laser system, which is required to determine the size of the deuteron. Invisible infrared laser pulses are converted into green laser light. (Photograph: Paul Scherrer Institute / A. Antognini and F. Reiser)
The deuteron - one of the simplest atomic nuclei, consisting of just one proton and one neutron - is considerably smaller than previously thought. This finding was arrived at by an international research group. A deuteron is a very simple atomic nucleus made up of just one proton and one neutron - that is, one each of the two nuclear building blocks. An international research collaboration, working at the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI, has measured the deuteron more accurately than ever before. The value they obtained for the radius of the deuteron does not, however, correspond to the measurements of other research groups but instead shows a significantly smaller value. In spite of this contradiction, there is also an agreement: In 2010 the same research group reported on the measurement of individual protons by means of the same method. Then, as well, the measurement clearly showed that the proton is smaller than had been thought to date.
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