Tag Archives: laser cooling

A giant leap closer to the continuous atom laser

Physicists have created a steady-state Bose-Einstein condensate – a long-sought feat that opens the door to a variety of applications, including in holography and quantum computing. Continue reading

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When cooling down really means slowing down

Consider this post the latest in a loosely defined series about atomic cooling techniques that I’ve been writing since June 2018. Atoms can’t run a temperature, but things made up of atoms, like a chair or table, can become hotter … Continue reading

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The trouble with laser-cooling anions

For scientists to use lasers to cool an atom, the atom needs to have two energy states. When laser light is shined on an atom moving towards the source of light, one of its electrons absorbs a photon, climbs to … Continue reading

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Relativity’s kin, the Bose-Einstein condensate, is 90 now

The BEC was Einstein’s last major prediction and it took a revolution in quantum optics to be realised. Continue reading

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