Over in Twitter-land, S. C. Kavassalis notes a Googler who’s not afraid to ask the big questions: Weird Google search of the week: ‘the “one” scientific idea that we need to believe’. Uh um, I’m sure my blog couldn’t possibly answer that. It’s a good question, though, ad there are a couple of different ways […]
Category: Condensed Matter
Reminder: Vote for the Most Amazing Laser Application of All Time
As of 1:45 Monday, 217 people have cast votes in the Laser Smackdown poll. That’s not bad, but it’s currently being handily beaten by the 271 people who have voted for a favorite system of units. The nice thing about using actual poll services for this sort of thing, though, is that I can re-post […]
Laser Smackdown: Vote for the Most Amazing Laser Application
In 1960, the first working laser was demonstrated, and promptly dubbed “a solution looking for a problem.” In the ensuing fifty years, lasers have found lots of problems to solve, but there has been no consensus about which of the many amazing applications of lasers is the most amazing. Now, in 2010, as we celebrate […]
Belated March Meeting Wrap-Up
I did one sketchy update from Portland last Tuesday, but never wrote up my impressions of the rest of the March Meeting– when I got back, I was buried in grading, and then trying to put together Monday’s presentation. And, for reasons that will become apparent, I was unable to write anything up before I […]
Cooling a “Macroscopic” Object to Its Quantum Ground State
Several people have sent me links to news stories about last week’s Nature paper, “Quantum ground state and single-phonon control of a mechanical resonator.” (It was also presented at the March Meeting, but I didn’t go to that session). This is billed as the first observation of quantum phenomena with a “macroscopic” or “naked eye […]
Sketchy March Meeting Notes: Monday
I’m terrible about taking notes on conference talks, especially when I’m jet-lagged and was sleep deprived even before I got on the plane. I do jot down the occasional paper reference, though, so here are the things I wrote down, and the talks they were associated with. This should give you some vague idea of […]
What Should I Go to at the March Meeting?
Lots of good suggestions as to Portland activities for my trip to the March Meeting next week. There’s a second, related problem that I also need help with: What should I do at the meeting itself? My usual conference is DAMOP, which I’ll be going to in May, so while DAMOP is a participating division, […]
Why Every Dog Should Love Quantum Physics 6: Superconductors
If you’re still not sure whether you should be teaching physics to your dog, here’s another good reason: Superconductors. The “super” in “superconductor” refers to the fact that these materials conduct electric current with absolutely zero resistance, better than the best ordinary metals. This has obvious applications in the green technology field (which dogs should […]
Why Every Dog Should Love Quantum Physics 3: Computers
Quantum physics can sometimes seem so arcane that even humans don’t need to worry about it, let alone dogs. It’s actually tremendously important to our modern world. In fact, if you’re reading this on a computer (and how else would you be getting it?), you have quantum physics to thank for it. Computers are based […]
Making Cold Atoms Look Like Electrons
One of the things I forgot to mention in yesterday’s post about why I like AMO physics is that AMO systems have proven to be outstanding tools for solving problems from other fields of physics. In particular, ultra-cold atoms have proven to be a fantastic venue for studying problems from condensed matter physics. There’s a […]