PERSPECTIVE Smashing magnets

Understanding or designing phases of matter relies in the first place on the knowledge at the microscopic level of the interactions taking place between the constituents. In quantum gases, a renewed interest is rising about the interaction between two dipoles, owing to its anisotropic and long-range character. In a new paper, Burdick et al (2016 New J. Phys. 18 113004) demonstrate experimentally the angular-dependence of collisions between two dysprosium atoms, an atomic species that carries a magnetic dipole moment among the largest in the periodic table. This is realized by colliding two 164 Dy Bose-Einstein condensates, and the experiments are backed by a theoretical analysis to connect these results with the two-body scattering cross-section. This represents a further step on the way to the full control of dipole-interacting many-body systems.