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 Physics at Virginia

Physics in Orbit

Friday, September 7 2018

UVa Physics professor Cass Sackett is testing gravity and quantum mechanics in space using the Cold Atom Laboratory (CAL), a device aboard the International Space Station.  His work is described in the current edition of UVa Today:

"Using lasers and magnets to control atoms in a vacuum chamber, the cooler-sized lab allows Sackett and an international team of colleagues to do in space (remotely, from Earth) what can’t be done on the Blue Planet – that is, conduct sustained experiments into how matter at the most fundamental level operates in “microgravity” conditions under ultra-cold temperatures. That can’t be done so well from Earth because the strong gravity of our planet affects the motions of atoms, the subject of interest in CAL experiments."

See the full article here: https://news.virginia.edu/content/cold-and-remote-uva-physicist-takes-cool-quantum-research-space

Tags: Cass Sackett Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics