Almost Absolute Zero - Nobel laureate gives 'cool' lecture at DCU
30th October 2002

Lasers, contrary to popular belief, can work to cool down atoms and not to heat them up, according to Dr Bill Phillips, Physics Nobel Laureate. Dr Phillips is on a lecture tour in Ireland at the invitation of the Institute of Physics, and gave a lecture at The Hub in Dublin City University today.

Dr Phillips of the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Maryland, USA was awarded the Nobel Physics prize in 1997 for his work on the cooling of a gas of atoms to less than a millionth of a degree above absolute zero - the coldest temperature in the universe. Applications which are being developed as a result of his research range from super-accurate atomic clocks to new quantum devices such as atom lasers.

With Professor Steven Chu and Professor Claude Cohen-Tannoudji, Bill Phillips developed methods of cooling and trapping atoms by using laser light. Their research is now helping to study fundamental phenomena and measure important physical quantities with unprecedented precision. The new term which is being applied to this study and application of atoms is 'atomtronics'.

In his 'whizz-bang' lecture at DCU, Dr Phillips demonstrated the weird and wonderful properties of near-frozen atoms using everyday 'props' such as carnations, ping-pong balls and tennis balls.

Dr John Costello, Senior Lecturer in the School of Applied Physics at DCU who was involved in the organisation of this visit to Dublin City University said that in his view, Dr Phillips was a genius. "The genius of a speaker is the ability to stimulate an 8 year old as well as an 80 year old, scientist and non-scientist. And Bill Phillips is this kind of man. He makes science accessible and makes it all sound so obvious that we wonder why we hadn't 'seen' it before".

Ends.

For further information
Eilis O'Brien
Communications & Marketing
DCU
01 7005217 or 087 205 7125

Eileen Colgan
Communications & Marketing
DCU
01 700 5656