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- SMP 12/21/02 | Peering into the Earth: From Earthquakes to Diamonds | Speaker: Wendy Panero
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- SMP 3/24/12 | String Symphonies in the Sky: Understanding Black Holes Using String Theory | Speaker: Finn Larsen
- SMP 3/17/12 | Cosmic Engines: The Complex Evolution of Galaxies | Speaker: Brian Nord Jr.
- SMP 3/10/12 | The Shape of Our Universe: The Complexity of Large-Scale Structure and Large-Scale Science | Speaker: Brian Nord Jr.
- SMP 2/18/12 | Quantum Field Theory: The Language of Particle Physics | Speaker: Henriette Elvang
- SMP 2/11/12 | String Theory and Our Real World | Speaker: Gordon Kane
- SMP 2/4/12 | From Negative Refraction to Wireless Power Transfer: The Path of the Superlens | Speaker: Roberto Merlin
- SMP 1/28/12 | Crystals Made of Light | Speaker: Rachel Sapiro
- SMP 1/21/12 | Einstein as a Cultural Figure | Speaker: Philip Glass, Sean Carroll, Michael Turner, Fred Adams
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- Seminars & Colloquia
Saturday, January 28, 2012
12:00 AM
170 & 182 Dennison Building
Speaker: Dr. Rachel Sapiro (UM Research Fellow)
Dr. Sapiro attempts to shed some light on how light waves can be aligned to interfere with each other to form a standing wave with a crystal lattice structure. This structure, called an "optical lattice," is a powerful tool that can be used for a wide variety of applications: it can force large microscopic and/or biological particles to form crystals; it can induce unique states of quantum matter; and it can be used to explore fundamental principles of quantum mechanics. An optical lattice can also be used such that the role of light and matter is reversed, with the matter behaving like a wave reflecting and diffracting off the crystal-like light.