May 18 was a red-letter day for Fellow Dana Anderson and employees of the company he founded, ColdQuanta. For the first time ever, ultracold 85Rb atoms soared above the Earth during an airplane flight with Anderson at the controls. The plane flew from Boulder to Fort Collins and back. University of Colorado Boulder Science Writer Trent Knoss was there and filed this exciting report from the scene. No word yet on how well the ultracold atoms fared outside of the laboratory!
Principal Investigators
The Physics Frontiers Centers (PFC) program supports university-based centers and institutes where the collective efforts of a larger group of individuals can enable transformational advances in the most promising research areas. The program is designed to foster major breakthroughs at the intellectual frontiers of physics by providing needed resources such as combinations of talents, skills, disciplines, and/or specialized infrastructure, not usually available to individual investigators or small groups, in an environment in which the collective efforts of the larger group can be shown to be seminal to promoting significant progress in the science and the education of students. PFCs also include creative, substantive activities aimed at enhancing education, broadening participation of traditionally underrepresented groups, and outreach to the scientific community and general public.