1997 Nobel Laureate in Physics William Phillips will be guest speaker at a free University of Queensland public lecture on Monday, February 7.
His public lecture at the University's Abel Smith Lecture Theatre, St Lucia at 6pm is co-sponsored by the University and UQ's Physics Department.
"Queensland is fortunate to host a visit by a scientist of Dr Phillips' calibre," the Head of UQ's Physics Department and Centre for Laser Science, Professor Gerard Milburn, said.
Dr Phillips and Professor Steven Chu of the US and Professor Claude Cohen-Tannoudji of France were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize for developing methods to cool and trap atoms with laser light.
Professor Milburn said the work by the Nobel Laureates and their collaborators had laid the groundwork for exciting developments in physics.
Professor Chu, Professor Cohen-Tannoudji, and Dr Phillips have developed methods of using laser light to cool gases to the ?K temperature range and keeping the chilled atoms floating or captured in different kinds of "atom traps". The laser functions as a thick liquid, dubbed optical molasses, in which the atoms are slowed down.
Individual atoms can be studied there with very great accuracy and their inner structure can be determined. As more and more atoms are captured in the same volume a thin gas forms, and its properties can be studied in detail.
Professor Milburn said the three Nobel Laureates had greatly increased knowledge of the interplay between radiation and matter. Their work could lead to the design of more precise atomic clocks for space navigation and accurate determination of position. A start had also been made on the design of atomic interferometers which can make very precise measurements of gravitational forces; and on atomic lasers, which may be used in the future to manufacture very small electronic components.
Born in 1948 at Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, Dr Phillips was awarded his PhD in 1976 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and is currently based at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, Maryland.
The University of Queensland's Physics Department includes the Centre for Laser Science which studies laser cooling and trapping of atoms. The UQ Physics Department late last year became a partner in the $3.48 million Special Research Centre for Quantum Computer Technology, which could position Australia internationally in the development of the next great leap forward in computation, the quantum computer.
Further information: Professor Gerard Milburn, telephone 07 3365 3405, email: milburn@physics.uq.edu.au
