In 1995, researchers at JILA, a joint institute of NIST and CU-Boulder, created the first Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) – a new form of matter predicted by Einstein in 1924. The BEC is formed when atoms are cooled to just a few hundred billionths of a degree above absolute zero, causing them to merge into a single “superatom” that behaves as a single quantum entity.
The JILA team, led by Eric Cornell and Carl Wieman, used laser and magnetic traps to create the BEC, a tiny ball of rubidium atoms. The condensate, visible as a pit in a carrot-sized glass cell, allowed scientists to study quantum physics on a macroscopic scale.
Since the initial discovery, BEC has been replicated by dozens of laboratories worldwide and has led to numerous scientific breakthroughs, including atom lasers, slowed light, and the first Fermi degenerate gas of atoms. The coldest matter ever achieved, at 3 billionths of a degree above absolute zero, was created using BEC techniques.
The BEC has opened up new avenues for studying quantum phenomena and has potential applications in areas such as quantum computing, precision measurements, and nanotechnology.
Source: https://www.nist.gov/news-events/news/2001/10/bose-einstein-condensate-new-form-matter
Keywords: condensate, Bose-Einstein, quantum, atoms, temperature, matter
