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    Atoms may Hum a Tune from grand Cosmic Symphony

    April 23, 2018, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    An expanding, ring-shaped cloud of atoms shares several striking features with the early universe. (Credit: E. Edwards/JQI)

    An expanding, ring-shaped cloud of atoms shares several striking features with the early universe. (Credit: E. Edwards/JQI)

    An expanding cloud of atoms could offer insight into unanswered cosmological questions. Researchers playing with a cloud of ultracold atoms uncovered behavior that bears a striking resemblance to the universe in microcosm. Their work, which forges new connections between atomic physics and the sudden expansion of the early universe, will be published in Physical Review X and highlighted by Physics.8

    “From the atomic physics perspective, the experiment is beautifully described by existing theory,” says Stephen Eckel, an atomic physicist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). “But even more striking is how that theory connects with cosmology.”

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    Scientists take a Major Leap toward a ‘Perfect’ Quantum Metamaterial

    May 11, 2016, Categories  Physics, Technology/Electronics

    The wavelike pattern at the top shows the accordion-like structure of a proposed quantum material—an artificial crystal made of light—that can trap atoms in regularly spaced nanoscale pockets. These pockets can be made to hold a large collection of ultracold “host” atoms (green), slowed to a standstill by laser light, and individually planted “probe” atoms (red) that can be made to transmit quantum information in the form of a photon (particle of light). The lower panel shows how the artificial crystal can be reconfigured with light from an open (hyperbolic, in orange) geometry to a closed (elliptical, in green) geometry, which greatly affects the speed at which the probe atom can release a photon. Credit: Pankaj K. Jha/UC Berkeley

    The wavelike pattern at the top shows the accordion-like structure of a proposed quantum material—an artificial crystal made of light—that can trap atoms in regularly spaced nanoscale pockets. These pockets can be made to hold a large collection of ultracold “host” atoms (green), slowed to a standstill by laser light, and individually planted “probe” atoms (red) that can be made to transmit quantum information in the form of a photon (particle of light). The lower panel shows how the artificial crystal can be reconfigured with light from an open (hyperbolic, in orange) geometry to a closed (elliptical, in green) geometry, which greatly affects the speed at which the probe atom can release a photon. Credit: Pankaj K. Jha/UC Berkeley

    Scientists have devised a way to build a “quan...

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