Cloud of bloated atoms takes hot shots

A cloud of highly excited atoms, each with an electron boosted into a far-flung orbit by a laser beam, acts as the film in a new kind of infrared camera.

References:

Drabbles, M., and L.D. Noordam. 1999. Infrared imaging camera based on a Rydberg atom photodetector. Applied Physics Letters 74(March 29):1797.

Further Readings:

Cowen, R. 1999. The universe en rose. Science News 155(March 13):172.

Sources:

Thomas F. Gallagher
University of Virginia
Physics Department
Jesse Beams Laboratory
382 McCormick Road
Charlottesville, VA 22903

Bart Noordam
FOM Institute for Atomic and Molecular Physics
Kruislaan 407
1098 SJ Amsterdam
Netherlands

From Science News, Vol. 155, No. 14, April 3, 1999, p. 214. Copyright © 1999, Science Service.

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