Wolfgang Ketterle has been the John D. MacArthur professor of physics at MIT since 1998. He leads a research group exploring the properties of ultracold gases. His research is in the field of atomic physics and laser spectroscopy and includes laser cooling and trapping, atom optics and atom interferometry, and studies of Bose-Einstein condensation and Fermi degeneracy.A major focus is

the exploration of new forms of matter, in particular novel aspects of superfluidity, coherence, and correlations in many-body systems. His observation of Bose-Einstein condensation in a gas in 1995 and the first realization of an atom laser in 1997 were recognized with the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2001 (together with E.A. Cornell and C.E. Wieman). He received a diploma (equivalent to master's degree) from the Technical University of Munich (1982), the Ph.D. in physics from the University of Munich (1986). He did postdoctoral work at the Max-Planck Institute for Quantum Optics in Garching and at the University of Heidelberg in molecular spectroscopy and combustion diagnostics. In 1990, he came to MIT as a postdoc and joined the physics faculty in 1993.

His honors include the Rabi Prize of the American Physical Society (1997), the Gustav-Hertz Prize of the German Physical Society (1997), the Fritz London Prize in Low Temperature Physics (1999), the Dannie-Heineman Prize of the Academy of Sciences, G�ttingen, Germany (1999), the Benjamin Franklin Medal in Physics (2000), the Knight Commander's Cross (Badge and Star) of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (2002), the MIT Killian Award (2004), and memberships in several Academies of Sciences. He holds an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Science from Gustavus Adolphus College (2005).

Public Lecture

Thursday, March 1st 2007, 18:00
Leacock Auditorium (room 132)

Bose-Einstein condensates -
the coldest matter in the universe

What happens when a gas is cooled to absolute zero? A new door to the quantum world opens up because all the atoms start “marching in lockstep”, they form one giant matter wave - the Bose-Einstein condensate. This was predicted by Einstein in 1925, but only realized in 1995 in laboratories at Boulder and at MIT. Since then, many properties of this mysterious form of matter have been revealed. Recently, a new frontier has opened up on Bose-Einstein condensation of molecules and atom pairs. The talk will link basic concepts of quantum mechanics with today's research, and discuss the techniques to cool and manipulate matter at nanokelvin temperatures.

Scientific Lecture

Friday, March 2nd 2007, 15:00
Strathcona Anatomy and Dentistry Building, Room M1

New forms of quantum matter near absolute zero temperature

Cooling atomic gases to nanokelvin temperatures has revolutionized atomic physics. At nanokelvin temperatures, new physics emerges: Bose-Einstein condensation, quantum reflection, strongly interacting gases. At nanokelvin temperatures, the atoms are so cold that they can easily be manipulated by electromagnetic fields. This has led to miniaturized atom traps or atom chips, and offers a new perspective for atom interferometry. Recently, Bose-Einstein condensates of molecules and fermion pairs have been created and show behavior analogous to electrons in superconducting materials. A new form of high-temperature superfluidity has been discovered. In the future, we plan to use ultracold gases to create designer matter, i.e. to realize new forms of matter in the laboratory which have been discussed as model systems for many-body phenomena, but have not been observed in nature.