Cooling and trapping is a set of experimental techniques used to reduce the kinetic energy of particles, typically atoms or ions, and confine them spatially for precision measurements and quantum control. Laser cooling methods, such as Doppler and sub-Doppler cooling, use resonant light to induce momentum exchange that lowers atomic velocities, while magneto-optical traps (MOTs) combine inhomogeneous magnetic fields with polarized light to provide both cooling and restoring forces. Additional mechanisms, including evaporative cooling and optical or electromagnetic trapping potentials, further reduce temperatures toward the quantum degenerate regime, enabling studies of ultracold gases, atomic clocks, quantum simulation, and controlled quantum information processing.
In humankind's ever-ticking pursuit of perfection, scientists have developed an atomic clock that is more precise and accurate than any clock previously created. The new clock was built by researchers at JILA, a joint institution ...
General Physics
Jul 1, 2024
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286
Using a specially designed 3D printed vacuum system, scientists have developed a way to "trap" dark matter with the aim of detecting domain walls. This will be a significant step forwards in unraveling some of the mysteries ...
General Physics
Jun 17, 2024
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194
There's a hot new BEC in town that has nothing to do with bacon, egg, and cheese. You won't find it at your local bodega, but in the coldest place in New York: the lab of Columbia physicist Sebastian Will, whose experimental ...
Quantum Physics
Jun 3, 2024
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1689
Researchers have developed new optical tweezers that can stably trap particles that are large—about 0.1 mm—and irregularly shaped. While conventional optical tweezers use highly focused laser beams to trap micro- or nano-scale ...
Optics & Photonics
May 14, 2024
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110
In a pioneering effort, researchers from the University of Innsbruck in collaboration with the University of Durham have for the first time achieved Bose-Einstein condensation of non-ground state cesium atoms. Published in ...
Quantum Physics
May 13, 2024
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99
A team of physicists at Harvard University has succeeded in trapping individual polyatomic molecules in optical tweezer arrays for the first time. In their paper published in the journal Nature, the group describes how they ...
By modifying a refrigerator commonly used in both research and industry, researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have drastically reduced the time and energy required to cool materials to ...
Condensed Matter
Apr 23, 2024
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237
Quantum physics requires high-precision sensing techniques to delve deeper into the microscopic properties of materials. From the analog quantum processors that have emerged recently, quantum-gas microscopes have proven to ...
Quantum Physics
Apr 22, 2024
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543
U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) researchers have developed a patent-pending Continuous 3D-Cooled Atom Beam Interferometer derived from a patented cold and continuous beam of atoms to explore atom-interferometry-based ...
Optics & Photonics
Apr 8, 2024
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103
For decades, the pursuit of quantum computing has struggled with the need for extremely low temperatures, mere fractions of a degree above absolute zero (0 Kelvin or –273.15°C). That's because the quantum phenomena that grant ...
Quantum Physics
Mar 28, 2024
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1091
