What Do You Need to Make Cold Atoms? Appendix: “No-Laser” Methods

Last week’s series of posts on the hardware needed for laser cooling and trapping experiments dealt specifically with laser-cooling type experiments. It’s possible, though, to make cold atoms without using laser cooling, using a number of techniques I described in two posts back in January. Those didn’t go into the hardware required, though, so what’s… Continue reading What Do You Need to Make Cold Atoms? Appendix: “No-Laser” Methods

What Do You Need to Make Cold Atoms? Part 3: Test and Measurement

The third category in our look at lab apparatus, after vacuum hardware and lasers and optics is the huge collection of electronic gear that we use to control the experiments. I’ll borrow the sales term “test and measurement” as a catch-all description, though this is really broader than what you’ll usually find in that category.… Continue reading What Do You Need to Make Cold Atoms? Part 3: Test and Measurement