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Lecture by SUPA Distinguished Professor Tony Leggett of the University of Illinois, winner of the 2003 Nobel Prize in Physics

Monday 28 April
4pm Room 222 Physics & Astronomy, University of St Andrews

Superfluidity, phase coherence and the new Bose-condensed alkali gases.

The phenomenon of superfluidity was discovered in liquid helium nearly sixty years ago,and ever since,following the almost immediate suggestion of Fritz London, it has been the almost universal belief in the condensed-matter community that it is due to the onset of the phenomenon of Bose-Einstein condensation which is theoretically predicted to occur in that system at sufficiently low temperature. However,for various practical reasons, it is extremely difficult even to establish unambiguously that BEC is occurring in 4-He, let alone to test directly some of the ideas which connect it to superfluidity. The recent attainment of BEC in dilute atomic alkali gases opens a new arena in this respect, allowing us to do many experiments which we would have loved to do in 4-He but which are in practice unfeasible in that system. In this talk I first review briefly the fundamental ideas developed in the helium context,then give a general introduction to the physics of the BEC alkali gases,and finally discuss some of the novel possibilities they open up, both already realized and still on the drawing-board.

The lecture will be transmitted to all SUPA VC rooms:
Dundee Basement, Ewing Building
Edinburgh 6224, JCMB - no need to collect the key from 4209. The room will be open.
Glasgow 255a, Kelvin Building
Heriot-Watt 1.27, Earl Mountbatten Building
St Andrews 222, Physics Building
Strathclyde 813, John Anderson Building
UWS F.318, Henry Building