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Article: Laser cooling: putting atoms on ice.
- Article from:
- Science News
- Article date:
- March 23, 1985
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1985 Science Service, Inc. 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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In experiments reminiscent of "Star Wars" on a microscopic scale, two teams of researchers have for the first time succeeded in using the fine touch of a laser beam to bring a stream of speeding atoms to a halt. They did it by shining precisely turned laser light into the face of an onrushing beam of free, neutral sodium atoms.
These experiments open the way for trapping neutral atoms within pockets created by electrical or magnetic fields. Stationary or slowly drifting atoms may spend enough time within the traps to allow extremely precise measurements of their spectra -- the frequencies at which the atoms absorb or emit light. Normally, any atomic movement ...