17 Dec
2003
17 Dec
'03
11:17 p.m.
O.K., this is totally off any reasonable topic, but allow me the indulgence:
"2 Groups of Physicists Produce Matter That Einstein Postulated."
I've been hanging around Carl Weiman's lab for a couple of years (a friend of mine works on one of the projects), and this is one hell of an achievement. The apparatus they use sits on a tabletop, and you can watch the gas through infared T.V. cameras in real time. The trap is just a little vacuum chamber with windows in the side. They use the same diode lasers that come in your C.D. player, an ingeniously inexpensive setup. Yow! -- Will