‘Time, Einstein and the Coolest Stuff in the Universe’

The Anderson Lecture Series welcomes Nobel Laureate William Phillips presenting “Time, Einstein and the Coolest Stuff in the Universe.”

Phillips will offer a multimedia presentation with experimental demonstrations and down-to-earth explanations about some of the today’s most exciting science.

Phillips began working at the National Bureau of Standards (now known as the National Institute of Standards and Technology, or NIST) in 1978, with the goal of slowing an atomic beam so as to make better atomic clocks. Using a combination of laser light and a tapering magnetic field, Phillips and his colleagues were able to verify atoms slowed to less than 40 meters/second with a spread of 10 meters/second, which corresponded to a temperature of about 0.070 Kelvin (or about -459.5 degrees Fahrenheit).

Soon they were able to trap these cold atoms, as well, leading to even longer interrogation times and better measurements. These careful measurements soon led to an unexpected discovery: in their new experimental configuration, they were able to cool the atoms even more than before – and even more than the theory said was possible.

These results revolutionized the field of atomic physics, and (among other awards) earned Phillips, Steve Chu, and Claude Cohen-Tannoudji the 1997 Nobel Prize in Physics “for development of methods to cool and trap atoms with laser light.” Today, physics with laser-cooled atoms continues to be a rapidly evolving field, with applications ranging from new methods to store and process information (quantum information) to the continued development of some of the most precise instruments ever created (atomic clocks).