In 1995, Eric Cornell and Carl Wieman at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the University of Colorado Boulder achieved the first Bose-Einstein Condensate (BEC), a state of matter predicted by Albert Einstein in 1925. The BEC is a collection of atoms cooled to near absolute zero, where they lose individual identities and form a single quantum wave.
The researchers used a three-step cooling process:
1. Laser cooling to create “optical molasses” of supercooled atoms
2. Magnetic trapping to compress the atomic cloud
3. Evaporative cooling to remove the hottest atoms and cool the remaining ones
Cornell and Wieman faced skepticism but made rapid progress, contributing to advances in laser cooling and trapping techniques. They developed the Time Orbiting Potential (TOP) trap, which moved the inevitable hole in the trap’s magnetic field faster than the atoms could follow, allowing them to achieve temperatures of 50 nanokelvin.
The BEC was confirmed when the condensate took on an elliptical shape, matching quantum mechanics predictions. This groundbreaking achievement earned Cornell, Wieman, and their colleague Carl E. Wieman the 2001 Nobel Prize in Physics.
Source: https://www.nist.gov/nist-and-nobel/eric-cornell/nobel-moment-eric-cornell
Keywords: Condensate, Rubidium, Cooling, Trapping, Quantum
