Ohio State Boasts Experts in Growing Field
Einstein predicted it more than 70 years ago, but physics experimentalists couldn’t produce it until 1995. Tin-Lun (Jason) Ho, professor of physics, conducts research in Bose-Einstein Condensation. “My family still doesn’t understand what I’m working on,” he said, smiling.
The Ohio State University Department of Physics boasts two outstanding researchers in the field that was awarded the 2001 Nobel Prize. In addition to Professor Ho, Professor Eric Braaten also works in this area. “We have good representation in this field,” said Ho.
Ho was recently invited to bring his crystal ball to a panel discussion and workshop organized by Harvard and MIT. Although not typically a fortune-teller, the professor was happy to offer his view of where the field is headed, concluding: “We haven’t seen anything yet!”
“Of course,” he added, “that was my prediction three years ago at another international conference. Many new developments did occur over the past three years. And if the recent history is any predictor, we shall see many more new things in the next decade.”
The research at Ohio State is responsible for a number of theoretical developments in the field. Jason Ho, a condensed matter physicist who was appointed Distinguished Professor of Mathematical and Physical Sciences in January 2002, is a pioneer in two major areas of study in the field: two-component Bose gas and Spinor Bose condensates. Professor Braaten, a high energy physicist, is a world expert in field theoretic approaches to Bose-Einstein condensation.
“This field is highly interdisciplinary, pulling together researchers from at least five different areas of research: atomic and molecular, condensed matter, high energy, nuclear, and quantum computations,” Ho explained. “As is often the case in science, progress made in one area often benefits another.”
The theory of Bose-Einstein condensation came shortly after Einstein’s theory of relativity. The story goes that he received a letter from Dr. Bose, from India, who proposed to consider a system of particles that behave identically. Einstein then pointed out that such a system could condense at sufficiently low temperatures only in the absence of interaction. This is surprising because typical condensation in substances such as water requires interactions between the atoms. Bose was awarded a Nobel Prize some years later and his system of indistinguishable particles is known as “Bose gas.”
To visualize how these systems of particles might behave, imagine Ohio Stadium on a football Saturday, only each fan is actually a Bose gas atom. On a hot day, every fan behaves differently. But as the temperature drops below the effective level, everyone would behave identically—if one person raises an arm, everyone would raise an arm. One person’s actions are now tremendously amplified. “This is very much how atoms in a Bose gas behave,” said Ho.
There are many reasons for the explosion of research activities in Bose-Einstein Condensation: the rapid advance in experimental methods, a great diversity of Bose gases in nature, and the promise of technological application. “There have been many major advances every year since the discovery in 1995,” said Ho. “This year is particularly exceptional. One example is the recent report by a German group citing the production of condensed Bose gas on a chip. This immediately opens a brand new area of research.
“I have never seen anything in the field like this,” Ho continued. “This is year six after the original discovery and the field is more exciting than day one. I have to conclude, we haven’t seen anything yet!”
