Carl Wieman and Eric Allin Cornell helped realize Bose-Einstein condensation in a dilute trapped rubidium gas. Laser cooling prepared a cold sample, and evaporative cooling preferentially removed energetic chemical atoms to reach quantum degeneracy.
The appearance of a narrow component in the expanded distribution distinguished the condensate from the surrounding thermal population. This made a many-particle quantum state experimentally visible through a controlled cooling sequence and an ordinary spatial image.[ref]
Observation of Bose-Einstein Condensation in a Dilute Atomic Vapor by M. H. Anderson and others. 1995 experiment: cooling sequence, transition and expanded density distributions
Portrait of Carl Wieman
. Tina Hager. Public domain (US federal government work). Source usage terms, via Wikimedia Commons. Source. Articles by others on the same topic
Carl Wieman is an American physicist known for his work in the field of atomic, molecular, and optical physics. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2001, alongside Eric Cornell and Wolfgang Ketterle, for their achievements in the creation of Bose-Einstein condensates, a state of matter formed at temperatures close to absolute zero. Beyond his research contributions, Wieman is also recognized for his efforts in science education and pedagogy.