Chilling out with lasers
Some electronic devices, including many on-board satellites, function only when cooled to far below room temperature. This has created a need for compact, reliable refrigeration that can be used in space and on Earth.
At 7 p.m., Tuesday in Albuquerque, Laboratory scientist Richard Epstein will describe the unusual science of using lasers to cool certain materials at a "Frontiers In Science" talk. The Laboratory-sponsored talk is at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science, 1801 Mountain Road N.W., and is free and open to the public.
Epstein is scheduled to repeat the talk Thursday in the Duane Smith Auditorium at Los Alamos High School; September 26 in the James A. Little Theatre of the New Mexico School for the Deaf in Santa Fe; and September 28 in the Taoseño Room of the Taos Convention Center, 120 Civil Plaza Drive, in Taos.
Epstein, of Space Science and Applications (ISR-1), leader of Los Alamos' Solid-State Optical Refrigerator project, will describe the development of optical refrigerators. He will explain the counter-intuitive effect of shining carefully tuned laser light on special high-purity materials. Rather than heating up, these materials are actually cooled down. Epstein will talk about harnessing this phenomenon to produce devices that can chill electronics to exceedingly frigid temperatures using no moving parts. Early accomplishments of American and French scientists in this field won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1997, and Epstein will speak to advances since then.
Epstein received his Bachelor of Science degree in engineering physics from Cornell University and his doctoral degree in applied physics from Stanford University. He was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Texas at Austin and at Harvard University and an assistant professor at Nordita in Copenhagen, before coming to Los Alamos.
Epstein has worked in theoretical astrophysics and in applied physics. He received the Laboratory's 2000 Fellows Prize for this work.
Frontiers in Science is sponsored by the Laboratory Fellows.
For more information on the talks, contact Linda Anderman of the Community Programs Office (CPO) at 5-9196 or anderman@lanl.gov, by electronic mail. Or see the Frontiers in Science Web site at http://www.lanl.gov/science/fellows/lectures.shtml online.
