Some late nights and wireless problems conspired to keep me from posting anything Friday or Saturday, but I was still at the meeting, and saw some cool talks on coherent X-ray production with lasers, opto-mechanics, and ridiculously good atomic clocks, some of which I hope to talk about later. For the moment, I’m just enjoying… Continue reading Home from DAMOP
Category: Quantum Optics
Anatomy of a Conference: DAMOP Day 2– The Rise of Precision Measurement
Since I sort of implied a series in the previous post, and I have no better ideas, here’s a look at Thursday’s DAMOP program:
My Wednesday at DAMOP
I was pretty sedentary on Wednesday, going to only two sessions, and staying for most of the talks in each. I spent most of the initial prize session getting my bearings in the conference areas, and talking to people I know from my NIST days. In the 10:30 block, I went to the session on… Continue reading My Wednesday at DAMOP
Anatomy of a Conference: DAMOP Day 1
The conference I’m at this week is the annual meeting of the Division of Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics of the American Physical Society (which this year is joint with the Canadian version, the Division of Atomic and Molecular Physics and Photon Interactions, or “DAMPΦ.” The Greek letter is a recent addition– as recently as… Continue reading Anatomy of a Conference: DAMOP Day 1
What Every Dog Should Know About Quantum Physics (2.0)
This is the presentation I gave to the International Baccalaureate class from Schenectady High School today. I tend to re-use talk titles a lot, but this is substantially different than the last talk with this title, as the previous group had read How to Teach Physics to Your Dog first. For this group, I spent… Continue reading What Every Dog Should Know About Quantum Physics (2.0)
The Problem of (Quantum) Moderation: On Many Worlds
I’ve written before about the problem of having in-between views on controversial subjects in blogdom. This is something that also comes up in Jessica’s excellent entry on online culture, and has been scientifically demonstrated in political contexts. I’m somewhat bemused, then, to see the same thing happen in a physics context. A while back, I… Continue reading The Problem of (Quantum) Moderation: On Many Worlds
The Problem of “Theory”
When I was writing about the seemingly contradictory meanings of “adiabatic” the other day, I almost gave “theory” as an example of a word with nearly opposite meanings. After all, as anyone who has even glanced at the evolution-creation “debate” has heard, a “Theory” in science is something more exalted than a mere guess– it’s… Continue reading The Problem of “Theory”
I Do Not Think “Adiabatic” Means What You Think It Means
Over at the Virtuosi, there’s a nice discussion of the physics of letting air out of tires. Jesse opens the explanation with: Have you ever noticed how when you let air out of a bike tire (or, I suppose, a car tire) it feels rather cold? Today we’re going to explore why that is, and… Continue reading I Do Not Think “Adiabatic” Means What You Think It Means
The Most Amazing Laser Application of All Time Is…
Voting has closed on the Laser Smackdown poll, with 772 people recording their opinion on the most amazing of the many things that have been done with lasers in the fifty years since the invention of the first working laser (see the Laserfest web site for more on the history and applications of lasers). The… Continue reading The Most Amazing Laser Application of All Time Is…
Dorky Poll: Light Entertainment
I’m off to Williamstown this afternoon, to talk about research and alsoHow to Teach Physics to Your Dog. If you need blog-based entertainment, though, here are some shiny new radio buttons for you to click: You’re a beam of light: quick, what’s your polarization?online survey I won’t offer a personality analysis based on these results,… Continue reading Dorky Poll: Light Entertainment