PULLMAN, Wash. – Albert Einstein and the Indian physicist Satyendra Nath Bose first conceived of an exotic form of super-cold matter known as Bose-Einstein condensate in the mid-1920s. For the next 70 years, actually creating it became one of science’s holy grails. |
| Cornell |
Finally, on June 5, 1995, scientists in Colorado did it, cooling a few thousand atoms of the alkali metal rubidium to about a millionth of a degree above absolute zero, or -459 F. One of the scientists, Eric Cornell, later told the New York Times that creating the condensate under the conditions he mapped out was “a dream come true.”
The Times called it “one of the quintessential eureka moments of physics,” opening a window into atomic-level behavior and the world of quantum mechanics.
“If we want to continue to make progress towards making electronics and machinery smaller, we will need to understand quantum mechanics better,” said Cornell, a professor at the University of Colorado and senior scientist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
Six years later, Cornell and his colleagues’ work earned them the Nobel Prize in physics.
Later this month, Cornell will visit Washington State University’s Pullman campus, where WSU physicist Peter Engels, a former Cornell colleague, in 2006 created the first Bose-Einstein condensate in the Pacific Northwest. Cornell’s appearance is part of the Common Reading Program, which this year focuses on Richard Muller’s book, “Physics for Future Presidents.”
The visit is hosted by the Department of Physics and Astronomy’s S. Town Stephenson Lectureship fund, with support from the WSU Physics and Astronomy Club and the College of Sciences.
Cornell’s talk, “Stone Cold Physics,” will take place 5:30-6:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 27, in Webster Physical Sciences Room 16. He will discuss how one reaches the record-low temperatures of Bose-Einstein condensate and explain its implications.
Fundamentally, the condensate is a rare observable instance of quantum mechanics, a bizarre state that challenges the comprehension of those familiar with classical physics and the everyday physical behavior of large things.
As atoms cool, they behave more like waves and less like particles. Finally, at the brink of absolute zero, the atoms’ normal motion is virtually halted and they lose their individual identity to link together into a single “superatom.”
As strange as it sounds, quantum mechanics promises to yield huge advances in our knowledge of the subatomic world. This has implications for technologies like blindingly fast quantum computing, nanotechnology and the resistance-free movement of electricity and fluids.
“Quantum mechanics is the part of physics that explains really small things,” Cornell said. “It turns out that quantum mechanics is also responsible for explaining really cold things. To sum up: We study really cold stuff to learn more about quantum mechanics, to understand really small stuff, to make smaller electronic and mechanical widgets.”
Source:
Peter Engels, WSU Department of Physics and Astronomy, 509-335-4674, engels@wsu.edu
Peter Engels, WSU Department of Physics and Astronomy, 509-335-4674, engels@wsu.edu