Lene Hau facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Lene Hau
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Lene Hau in her laboratory at Harvard, 2007
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| Born | November 13, 1959 Vejle, Denmark
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| Nationality | Danish |
| Alma mater | Aarhus University |
| Known for | Slow light, Bose–Einstein condensates, nanotechnology, quantum optics |
| Awards | Ole Rømer Medal George Ledlie Prize MacArthur Fellowship Rigmor and Carl Holst-Knudsen Award for Scientific Research |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Physics and Nanotechnology |
| Institutions | Harvard University Rowland Institute for Science |
| Doctoral students | Naomi Ginsberg, Christopher Slowe, Zachary Dutton |
Lene Vestergaard Hau (born November 13, 1959) is a famous Danish physicist and teacher. She is a professor at Harvard University. She is known for her amazing work with light and matter.
In 1999, Professor Hau led a team at Harvard. They used a special state of matter called a Bose–Einstein condensate. With this, they managed to make a beam of light move incredibly slowly. It went from super fast to about 17 meters per second! In 2001, they even stopped a light beam completely.
Later, her team found a way to transfer light into matter. Then they changed it back from matter into light. This discovery is very important for quantum encryption (super-secure messages) and quantum computing (super-fast computers). Her recent work also explores how tiny, ultracold atoms interact with very small systems.
Besides her research, Professor Hau teaches about energy science. This includes topics like photovoltaic cells (solar panels), nuclear power, batteries, and photosynthesis. She often speaks at big international science events. In 2002, Discover Magazine named her one of the 50 most important women in science.
Contents
Early life and education
Lene Hau was born in Vejle, Denmark. She loved learning from a young age.
She earned her first degree in mathematics in 1984. She was 24 years old. Two years later, she got her master's degree in physics. Both degrees were from the University of Aarhus in Denmark.
For her advanced studies, Hau focused on quantum theory. This is the science of how very tiny particles behave. Her work was similar to how fiber optic cables carry light. But instead, she studied how electrons move through strings of atoms in a silicon crystal. During her studies, she spent seven months at CERN. This is a big European lab for particle physics in Switzerland. She finished her doctorate in 1991.
Career highlights
In 1991, Lene Hau joined the Rowland Institute for Science. This is a research center in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Here, she started looking into how to slow down light. She also studied very cold atoms.
In 1999, at age 40, she became a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University. Her training was in theoretical physics. This means she mostly worked with ideas and math. But she became very interested in experimental research. She wanted to create a new form of matter. This new form is called a Bose–Einstein condensate.
At first, she had trouble getting money for her experiments. Some thought it would be too hard for a theorist to do. But she found other ways to get funding. She became one of the first scientists to successfully create this special condensate. In September 1999, she became a professor at Harvard. She is now the Mallinckrodt Professor of Physics and Applied Physics.
In 2001, she made history. She was the first person to completely stop light. She used a Bose–Einstein condensate to do this. Since then, she has done a lot more research. Her work includes electromagnetically induced transparency and different areas of quantum physics. She has also helped develop new nanoscale devices.
Transferring quantum information
Professor Hau and her team at Harvard have shown amazing control over light and matter. One of their most exciting experiments happened in 2006. They successfully moved a qubit from light to a matter wave. A qubit is like a basic unit of information for quantum computers. Then, they moved it back into light. They used Bose–Einstein condensates for this, too.
This experiment was explained in the journal Nature in 2007. It works because, in quantum mechanics, atoms can act like waves. This allows them to do surprising things. For example, they can pass through two openings at once. In a Bose–Einstein condensate, a light pulse can be squeezed. It can become 50 million times smaller without losing any information.
The information from the light pulse can be transferred to the atom waves. This is important because all the atoms move together. This means the information doesn't get lost. A special laser helps write the light pulse's shape into the atom waves. When the laser is turned off, the light pulse vanishes. But a "matter copy" of the information remains.
Before this, scientists couldn't easily control light information as it traveled. This experiment by Hau's team was the first time they could truly control optical information. Another physicist, Irina Novikova, said this was a "beautiful demonstration." She noted that light storage used to be measured in milliseconds. Now, it's in "fractional seconds," which is a huge step.
Professor Hau said this new control could help with quantum information processing. It could also help with quantum cryptography. This is about making super-secure codes. Jeremy Bloxham, a Harvard dean, said this achievement is great news for those who want to build quantum computers. Professor Hau received the George Ledlie Prize for this amazing work.
Cold atoms and tiny systems
In 2009, Professor Hau's team cooled clouds of rubidium atoms. They cooled about one million atoms to just above absolute zero. Absolute zero is the coldest possible temperature. Then, they sent this tiny cloud of atoms towards a carbon nanotube. A nanotube is a super-small tube. This one was charged with hundreds of volts of electricity.
The results were published in 2010. They showed new ways that cold atoms and tiny systems can interact. Most atoms just passed by the nanotube. But about 10 out of every million atoms were strongly pulled in. This made them speed up a lot and get very hot.
The speeding atoms then split into an electron and an ion. They rotated around the nanotube. The electron eventually got sucked into the nanotube. This happened through something called quantum tunneling. This made its partner ion shoot away very fast. It traveled at about 26 kilometers per second (59,000 miles per hour)!
This experiment showed that atoms can break apart very quickly. They don't even need to crash into each other. The team noted that this effect is not caused by gravity, like in black holes in space. Instead, it's caused by the strong electrical charge in the nanotube. This research combines nanotechnology with cold atoms. It could lead to new ways to detect single atoms. It might also help with future quantum devices.
Awards and recognition
Lene Hau has received many awards for her important scientific work. Some of them include:
- Dirac Medal and Lecture, 2019
- Lise Meitner Distinguished Lecture, 2018
- Carlsberg Foundation's Research Award, 2011
- H.C. Ørsted Lectureship, 2010
- 'World Dane 2010' from Danes Worldwide
- National Security Science and Engineering Faculty Fellow, U.S. Department of Defense, 2010
- Member of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters
- American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Fellow, 2009
- American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 2009
- Foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, 2008
- Rigmor and Carl Holst-Knudsen Award for Scientific Research
- George Ledlie Prize, 2008
- Richtmyer Memorial Award, 2004
- MacArthur Fellow ("Genius Grant"), 2001–2006
- NKT Award, by the Danish Physical Society, 2001
- The Ole Rømer Medal, 2001
- Honorary degree, Æreshåndværker Kjøbenhavns Håndværkerforening, 2001
- Recipient of the Year 2000 Award from the Top Danmark Foundation
Images for kids
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A captured atom is ripped apart as its electron is sucked into the nanotube
See also
In Spanish: Lene Hau para niños
