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Article: Have atoms, will travel.(atom lasers)
- Article from:
- Popular Mechanics
- Article date:
- July 1, 1997
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1997 Hearst Communications, reprinted with permission of Hearst. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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* When Theodore Maiman fired a burst of brilliant light from a synthetic ruby rod in 1960, his colleagues at Hughes Laboratory thought his optic laser was an interesting physics experiment that might someday have an application in communications. What they didn't realize was that Maiman had also fired the opening shot in revolutionizing surgery and the computer and entertainment industries. Perhaps it is partly because of this recent history lesson about the unexpected consequences of ideas that interest in the "atom laser" is now growing.
To understand why the atom laser is causing so much excitement, it is helpful to remember that atoms--which we usually think ...