Sallyport - The Magazine of Rice University - Summer 2002
Sallyport - The Magazine of Rice University - Summer 2002
Sallyport - The Magazine of Rice University - Summer 2002
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Catching the ‘Atom Wave’ - Through the <strong>Sallyport</strong><br />
<strong>The</strong> techniques that are being developed to control matter in BEC<br />
experiments could eventually be used to perform extremely precise<br />
measurements. For example, the same principle that makes lasers useful in<br />
interferometric fiber-optic gyroscopes could be applied with atom lasers to<br />
form instruments that are millions or perhaps billions <strong>of</strong> times more<br />
sensitive.<br />
“Forty years ago, no one imagined that lasers would be used to play music<br />
in our cars or scan our food at the grocery store checkout,” Hulet says.<br />
“BEC researchers are in a similar situation. We’re getting our first glimpse<br />
<strong>of</strong> a wondrous and sometimes surprising set <strong>of</strong> dynamic quantum<br />
phenomena, and there’s no way to know exactly what may come <strong>of</strong> it.”<br />
—Jade Boyd<br />
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Copyright ©<strong>2002</strong> <strong>Rice</strong> <strong>University</strong><br />
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