Date: Monday, November 16

Presenter: Dr. Michaela Kleinert
Host: Dr. Daniel Steck

Cooling and trapping of atoms and molecules

The invention of the magneto-optical trap (MOT) in 1987 - which was
awarded the Noble Price in Physics 10 years later - has enabled many new
and exciting experiments. Among them are precision measurements of basic
atomic and collisional properties, Bose-Einstein Condensates and atom
lasers, just to name a few.
Recent developments in the field of atomic and molecular physics have
included the creation of diatomic molecules, both consisting of the same
(homonuclear) and of different (heteronuclear) atomic species. These
ultracold molecules promise to revolutionize physical chemistry, few-body
physics, precision measurements and quantum information processing,
similar to how ultracold atoms revolutionized AMO physics several years
ago.
I will discuss the current state of the art in ultracold AMO physics and
outline the research we are planning to do at Willamette University.