Microscopic sphere becomes fastest spinning manmade object
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.027299
BBC : A sphere of calcium carbonate just 4 μm in diameter has been made to spin at a rate of 600 million revolutions per minute. Yoshihiko Arita, Michael Mazilu, and Kishan Dholakia of the University of St. Andrews used the radiation pressure of lasers to levitate the ball in a vacuum chamber and hold it in place. They manipulated the polarization of the laser light, which imparted torque on the sphere as it passed through it. Their observations of the sphere revealed that it behaved like a gyroscope stabilizing itself on its axis of rotation. Because of the small scale of the system, it could potentially provide insight into the boundary overlap between quantum mechanics and classical physics.
