Momento (Jan 1996)
Láseres de átomos?
Abstract
Recent developments on atomic optics are described: the Base-Einstein Condensation (BEC) and some theoretical models for generation of a coherent atomic beam or “Atom Laser”. The experimental realization of a new state of matter, a BEC' of 87 Rb a toms. Was a chieved by the JILA-NIST group al Boulder the last year. With out any doubt, this was one of the more (maybe the most) relevant contribution to the d evelopment of physics in 1995. The theoreticians on their turn proposed several models for the atom laser, although experimental realizations seem not to be expected in the near future. The properties of an atom laser must be different from those of the BEC, since the laser is a driven system in a non-equilibrium state, whereas the BEC cor resp onds to an equilibrium state for a bosonic gas.
