Proof

1..2..3

Artificial atoms amplify light

A UK-Swiss team describes how it generated laser light without the need for a population inversion in the current issue of Nature Materials.

Physicists have found a new way to amplify light that could make lasers more efficient. Chris Phillips at Imperial College in London and colleagues at the University of Neuchâtel in Switzerland made the breakthrough using specially patterned nanocrystals that behave as artificial atoms.

Because the separation between energy levels in their crystals can be controlled, laser light can be produced without the need for a population inversion. The technique could also find applications in optical data storage and even allow materials to become completely transparent (Nature Materials 5 175).

The active medium in a laser is usually a gas or a crystal in which the atoms have been excited or "pumped" so that more electrons exist in the upper of two energy levels. Once such a population inversion has been achieved, a beam of light passing through the medium can stimulate electrons to fall into the lower energy level and emit a photon of the same wavelength. The emitted photons then go on to de-excite further atoms, amplifying the original beam.More at optics.org

Defense Tech: Real-Life Ray Gun: Say When?

I think this is a good example about the applications of basic research. Let me be clear, it is our duty to inform people about what filamentation is really about. By doing this, we can avoid the use of misleading information and also avoid its use for non-ethical purposes. Defense Tech: Real-Life Ray Gun: Say When?

Attosecond pump-probe proposed to explore the dance of electrons

Attosecond pump-probe proposed to explore the dance of electrons

15th International Conference on Ultrafast Phenomena

THz Science & Technology Network 15th International Conference on Ultrafast Phenomena

July 31-August 4, 2006
Pacific Grove, California, USA

The 2006 Ultrafast Phenomena Conference will be the fifteenth in a series on advances in research on ultrafast science and technology. This meeting is widely recognized as the major international forum for the discussion of new work in this rapidly moving field."

The funny thing is that it overlaps with the other conference at the Kavli Institue also in California previoulsy announced here. No talking here .

KITP - Attosecond Science Workshop

The Kavli Institute for theoretical Physics is hosting the KITP - Attosecond Science Workshop. It is announced as follows

The main goals of this seven week workshop are to bring experimentalists and theorists together to jointly examine and discuss in sufficient depth and detail the following general topics: (1) the key fundamental scientific issues of the dynamics of matter on attosecond time scales; (2) the current obstacles to improvement and extension of attosecond technology to shorter times and higher intensities; and (3) the directions for new applications of attosecond technology in atomic, molecular, plasma, and solid state physics as well as other fields.

From Tuesday, 1 August - Friday, 4 August 2006, we will hold a four-day conference on "Attosecond Science: Status and Prospects." One need not be a workshop participant to attend the conference

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Fastest view of molecular motion

The new laboratory at the Imperial College is really showing some of the first results, several more willcome during following years. BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Fastest view of molecular motion. More on this very widely published work at PhysOrg The Worlds Fastest Measurements of Molecular Vibrations

Several PhD at MPI Heidelberg

Several PhD Studentships: MPI Heidelberg | jobs.pro-physik.de

APS meeting

Nature comment about the APS March meeting, The editors have picked several interesting sessions, among them, this one seems interesting Session K1: Optical Frequency Clocks and Experimental Quantum Optics. More about it in the Nature NewsBlog