EPFL, Bose-Einstein condensates of polaritons, and the future
This morning, I visited some labs at the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL). Last week, I arranged the visit with one of the professors who runs the Laboratory of Quantum Optoelectronics at EPFL. I spoke with him for about 45 minutes before he passed me off to one of his graduate students for tours of a couple different labs.
My goals coming in were ill-defined: mostly, I was information-gathering, seeing what I might be able to do once I finish graduate school. The idea of working in Europe has previously crossed my mind, but it was never all that concrete. It still hasn't crystallized, but the really good part of my visit this morning is that it gives me more confidence that the skills I am developing in graduate school are transferrable, even to a field where I don't have a strong background.
Polaritons are quasi-particles which are a combination of an electron-hole pair and a photon. (If you have the physics background, the polariton is composed of the eigenstates of the combined system.) The important part of here is that polaritons occur in semiconductor materials (solids). The lab group here has been able to make a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) of polaritons; so, a BEC in a solid material. All the work that I do is with atoms that are a gas; the goal of work in my lab is to make a BEC out of the gas. In the end, the common thing in both fields is the BEC, but the physical system in which one achieves the BEC is different. Technically-speaking, however, many things are similar, and this is where the expertise I'm developing is transferrable despite not having a background in condensed matter physics. Cool!
So am I moving to Europe when I finish my PhD? Let's not be so hasty. :) I'm just happy that I saw an example of a situation where I could do very interesting work in a good environment. In addition, the experiments they are doing generally seem less complicated, technically, than the experiment I currently work on while the underlying physics is no less interesting. It's an appealing situation.
My goals coming in were ill-defined: mostly, I was information-gathering, seeing what I might be able to do once I finish graduate school. The idea of working in Europe has previously crossed my mind, but it was never all that concrete. It still hasn't crystallized, but the really good part of my visit this morning is that it gives me more confidence that the skills I am developing in graduate school are transferrable, even to a field where I don't have a strong background.
Polaritons are quasi-particles which are a combination of an electron-hole pair and a photon. (If you have the physics background, the polariton is composed of the eigenstates of the combined system.) The important part of here is that polaritons occur in semiconductor materials (solids). The lab group here has been able to make a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) of polaritons; so, a BEC in a solid material. All the work that I do is with atoms that are a gas; the goal of work in my lab is to make a BEC out of the gas. In the end, the common thing in both fields is the BEC, but the physical system in which one achieves the BEC is different. Technically-speaking, however, many things are similar, and this is where the expertise I'm developing is transferrable despite not having a background in condensed matter physics. Cool!
So am I moving to Europe when I finish my PhD? Let's not be so hasty. :) I'm just happy that I saw an example of a situation where I could do very interesting work in a good environment. In addition, the experiments they are doing generally seem less complicated, technically, than the experiment I currently work on while the underlying physics is no less interesting. It's an appealing situation.
posted by Pascal Mickelson at
05:58
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