Events

Feb 5

Anne Sledd's Comps Presentation

From site: Physics and Astronomy Events

Students, Faculty, and Staff are invited to attend Anne's presentation on Slowing Down Light.

Wednesday, February 5th, 2014
3:10 – 4:10 pm / Olin 141

Anne Sledd Comps Presentation
Wednesday, February 5th, 2014 3:10 pm
Olin 141

Ultraslow and Stopped Electromagnetic Waves:  A Cheater’s Guide to Going Faster Than Light

Tired of racing light and always losing? Think it’d be cool to beat light, but just have too much mass? Don’t worry, it’s not you, it’s light! In 1999 Danish physicist Lene Hau and her team at Harvard slowed light to the human scale, 17 m/s or 38 mph. Although Hau et al were not the first to slow light, their astonishing results marked the beginning of intense research on ultraslow light. To achieve ultraslow speeds they used a Bose-Einstein Condensate (BEC) at low temperatures and an optical technique called Electromagnetically Induced Transparency (EIT). A few years later in 2001 Hau et al stopped light completely, storing it in the BEC for milliseconds before re-emitting it. The whys and hows of ultraslow and stopped light will be discussed, focusing on the experiments of Hau et al. *

 *Exposure to nanokelvin temperatures not yet approved by the FDA.

Sponsored by Physics and Astronomy. Contact: Trenne Fields