The Nobel Prize in Physics 1997

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has awarded the 1997 Nobel Prize in Physics jointly to

Steven Chu, Claude Cohen-Tannoudji andWilliam D. Phillips

for their developments of methods to cool and trap atoms with laser light.

This year's Nobel laureates in physics have developed methods of cooling and trapping atoms by using laser light. Their research is helping us to study fundamental phenomena and measure important physical quantities with unprecedented precision.

Contents:
Introduction » Deceleration of atoms » MOT » Optical molasses » The Doppler limit » New cooling mechanisms » Below the recoil limit » Rings on the water » Further reading »
Based on materials from the 1997 Nobel Poster for Physics. Credits and references for the poster »