Laser source: The formation of a Bose-Einstein condensate. As experts lower the temperature of the atoms, the cloud on the left gradually localises to form a pure condensate in the right-hand image. These atoms are just one hundred billionths of a degree above absolute zero.
Credit: ANU
"We had to overcome a series of theoretical and technical hurdles, mainly related to the delicate nature of the Bose-Einstein condensate. It only exists at near absolute zero and is hard to maintain," said Robins.
Practical device
Co-author John Close, quantum physicist and co-leader of the ANU group, said so far atom laser experiments have only had the lasing mode, so the cloud eventually drains. "The idea is that we are trickling the atoms down from the upper source. The BEC cloud at the top acts like a tap keeping the 'bucket' [the lasing mode] refilled."
Close said what distinguished their research was their efforts to make atom lasers a practical device. "Optical lasers are studied, but they are also in the real world, cutting eyeballs, scanning checkout items and so on. We're very much going down the path of making something useful," he said.
The team expect to have a device based on the laser within two years.
