Ronald Walsworth
Senior Lecturer
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics


Talk Title: "The Story of Stopped Light"

Abstract
Recent experiments have shown that a pulse of light can be brought to a stop in a specially-prepared cloud of atoms, and then re-accelerated and released on command. This talk will describe how "stopped light" is a new manifestation of the rules of quantum mechanics, with potential applications to optical communication networks, including ultra-secure quantum communication.

Biographical Sketch
Dr. Ronald Walsworth is a Senior Lecturer on Physics at Harvard University and a Senior Scientist at the Smithsonian Institution. He leads a research group pursuing a wide range of investigations, including the development of atomic clocks; precise tests of fundamental physical laws and symmetries; "stopped light" and applications to quantum information processing; studies of porous and granular media; and biomedical imaging with applications to pulmonary physiology and medicine. His research has been featured in media such as the New York Times, Boston Globe, National Public Radio, Scientific American, Physics Today, and Discover Magazine.

URL: http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/Walsworth/

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