“Dragging” ultracold ions across an optical lattice has provided important insights into friction. By tweaking the distance between the ions, Alexei Bylinskii, Dorian Gangloff and Vladan Vuletić of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the US were able to reduce the friction between the two by a factor of 100. Their work could provide important insights into “superlubricity” and further the development of tiny mechanical devices…..
http://nanotechweb.org/cws/article/tech/61467