Quantum Optics
Category archives for Quantum Optics
What’s So Interesting About Precision Measurement?
Posted by Chad Orzel on July 8, 2011 The final content area from my DAMOP overview is Precision Measurement. This is also the smallest area, with only one invited session on the topic on Fundamental Symmetry Tests, though two of the “Hot Topics” talks (by Zheng-Tian Lu and Ed Hinds) were precision measurement talks. You might be able to make an argument that…
What’s So Interesting About Quantum Phenomena?
Posted by Chad Orzel on July 1, 2011 Third of the five research categories within DAMOP that I talked about is Quantum Phenomena. This is a little bit of a catch-all, as there are a few different things going on in this area. They are all unified, though, by the fact that they end up making quantum mechanical effects manifest in some way,…
What’s So Interesting About Ultracold Matter?
Posted by Chad Orzel on June 29, 2011 The first of the five categories of active research at DAMOP that I described in yesterday’s post is “Ultracold Matter.” The starting point for this category of research is laser cooling to get a gas of atoms down to microkelvin temperatures (that is, a few millionths of a degree above absolute zero. Evaporative cooling can…
What’s So Interesting About AMO Physics?
Posted by Chad Orzel on June 28, 2011 That’s the title of my slightly insane talk at the DAMOP (Division of Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics of the American Physical Society) conference a couple of weeks ago, summarizing current topics of interest in Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics. I’ll re-embed the slides at the end of this post, for anyone who missed my…
DAMOP Day 3
Posted by Chad Orzel on June 17, 2011 Alternate, More-Interesting Post Title: Attack of the Vampire Physicists. I realized today that the only time I have been outside during daylight hours on this trip to Atlanta was during the brief walk down the platform to the airport entrance. This is only a little unusual for a DAMOP– the Marriott Marquis is connected to…
DAMOP Day 2
Posted by Chad Orzel on June 16, 2011 One of the odd things about going to conferences is the unpredictable difference between talks and papers. Sometimes, when you go to a talk, you just get an exact repetition of what’s in the paper; other times, you get a new angle on it, or some different visual representations that make something that previously seemed…
What’s So Interesting About AMO Physics?
Posted by Chad Orzel on June 14, 2011 That’s the title of my talk this morning at DAMOP, where I attempt the slightly insane feat of summarizing a meeting with over 1000 presentations in a single 30-minute talk. This will necessarily involve talking a little bit like the person reading the legal notices at the end of a car commercial, and a few…
Watching Photons Interfere: “Observing the Average Trajectories of Single Photons in a Two-Slit Interferometer”
Posted by Chad Orzel on June 3, 2011 It’s been a long and brutally busy week here, so I really ought to just take a day off from blogging. But there’s a new paper in Science on quantum physics that’s just too good to pass up, so here’s a ReasearchBlogging post to close out the week. Aw, c’mon, dude, I’m tired. What’s so…
The Born Equivocation
Posted by Chad Orzel on May 30, 2011 Last week’s post about the Many-Worlds variant in “Divided by Infinity” prompted the usual vigorous discussion about the merits of the Many-Worlds Interpretation. This included the common objection that we don’t know how to obtain the probability of measurement outcomes in the Many-Worlds Interpretation. This is one of those Deep Questions that lots of people…
Dog Physics On TV: Set Your DVR
Posted by Chad Orzel on May 25, 2011 I learned today that the National Georgraphic Channel video I mentioned last week has actually already aired on the network. It was last week’s episode of the series “Naked Science,” titled Living in a Parallel Universe. I haven’t seen it, obviously, but it’s running again, tomorrow (the 26th), at 4pm (Eastern (US) time). Set your…
