Cold Atoms - hottest topic in physics
This talk will give an introduction to the fascinating topic of generating collections of cold atoms using laser cooling.
Laser cooling is an amazing laser technique where the mechanical force of
light is exploited to cool samples of atoms to temperatures of 10 µK
or less - that's a million times colder than outer space!
The reason why laser cooled atoms are so useful is that the atoms move extremely
slowly - a few cm per second - and can be manipulated just with light and magnetic
fields. No other technique gives access to such temperature regimes or can surpass
the accuracy of the measurements possible. The talk will also outline examples
of novel applications of this technology such as highly collimated beams of atoms
for nanolithography, fountains for the new generation of time-keeping, ultra-accurate
gravity measurements and extremely precise tests of quantum mechanics, which
won Nobel Physics prizes in 1996 and again in 2001.
