Phillips' lecture is titled "Almost Absolute Zero: The Story of Laser Cooling and Trapping." It will be an updated version of the Nobel Lecture he delivered in December 1997 when he was presented the Nobel Prize in Stockholm. He will discuss how a gas can be cooled by shining a laser on it, and how laser cooling works. Phillips shared the Nobel Prize for his research in the development of methods to cool and trap atoms with laser light.
Phillips is leader of the Laser Cooling and Trapping Group in the Atomic Physics Division of NIST's Physics Laboratory. He also is an adjunct professor of physics at the University of Maryland. Phillips is a fellow of the American Physical Society, the Optical Society of America, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and is a member of the National Academy of Sciences.
A native of Wilkes-Barre, Pa., Phillips earned a bachelor's degree in physics from Juniata College in Pennsylvania. He earned his master's degree and doctorate in physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Persons wishing to attend the lecture should make reservations by calling Fred Strohl of ORNL's Communications and Public Affairs office at 865-574-4165.
ORNL is a DOE multiprogram research facility managed by Lockheed Martin Energy Research Corporation.