ACT Branch
The December 2009 Meeting
This year we are combining the branch AGM with our last public lecture.
Cool and fascinating: Quantum matter at absolute zero
and AGM BBQ
| Speaker | Professor Rudi Grimm (2009 Frew Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science)
Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information,Innsbruck, Austria |
| Time | Thursday 10th of December 2009 6.00pm |
| Location | Dunbar Physics Lecture Theatre (PHYS T), Building 39 (Psychology), The Australian National University |
At ultralow temperatures extremely close to absolute zero, the atomic quantum world bears many intriguing phenomena. Little clouds of atoms, trapped in electromagnetic fields, show peculiar behaviour. Quantum condensates can be formed, in which a million of atoms lose their identity and all behave in the same way.
This ultracold society is divided into two classes, where some atoms gregariously gather in the same place and the other ones avoid each other as loners in the quantum world. This may sound bizarre, but it is at the heart of our understanding of matter and it serves as a foundation for novel applications. Above all, it is fascinating, mind-boggling, and really cool!
Prof Grimm obtained his PhD in 1989 from ETH Zurich. Since then he has worked at Troitsk and Heidelberg, and is now Scientific Director of the Institute of Quantum Optics and Quantum Information at Innsbruck, Austria. He is the recipient of many awards including the Gerhard-Hess-Award of the German Research Foundation, the 2005 Wittgenstein Award and the 2007 Beller Lectureship Award of the American Physical Society. He is also a member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences and a Fellow of the APS. In 2005 he was made Austrian of the Year (Research). His research interests include ultracold atoms and quantum gases, interaction of cold atoms with surfaces and cold molecules.
The Frew Fellowship is awarded to distinguished overseas scientists to participate in the Australian Spectroscopy Conferences and to visit scientific centres in Australia. Conferences are held biennially.
Prof Grimm's talk will be followed by a BBQ (hopefully with live music) in the courtyard outside the lecture theatre. The branch AGM will take place during the BBQ, including the election of the 2010 Committee.