一种新的捕获和冷却原子的方法,已经由加利福尼亚大学(位于洛杉矶)的物理学家们发现。他们使用了被称为频率梳的脉冲激光技术,用以冷却原子云样品;并且可以预计:有朝一日该技术将被用来研究某些至今尚未冷却至0 K附近的原子(如氢、碳、氮和氧,它们在生物学和天文学中很重要)之量子行为。这些原子不能使用传统的方法冷却,因为这将需要高功率的紫外线激光器,目前难于装备。 A new method of capturing and cooling atoms has been discovered by physicists at the University of California, Los Angeles. They use pulsed laser technology called a frequency comb to cool atomic cloud samples; and it is expected that one day the technique will be used to study some of the atoms that have not cooled to around 0 K so far (eg, hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen And oxygen, which are important in biology and astronomy). These atoms can not be cooled using conventional methods, as this will require high-power UV lasers that are currently difficult to equip.