Lene Hau

Lene Vestergaard Hau (born in Vejle, Denmark, on November 13, 1959) is a Danish physicist. In 1999, she led a Harvard University team who succeeded in slowing a beam of light to about 17 metres per second, and, in 2001, was able to momentarily stop a beam. She was able to achieve this by using a superfluid.

In 1989, Hau accepted a two-year appointment as a postdoctoral fellow in Physics at Harvard University. She received her Ph.D. degree from the University of Aarhus in Denmark in 1991. Her formalized training is in theoretical physics but her interest moved to experimental research in an effort to create a new form of matter known as a Bose-Einstein condensate. In 1991 she joined the Rowland Institute for Science at Cambridge as a scientific staff member. Since 1999 she has held the Gordon McKay Professor of Applied Physics and Professor of Physics at Harvard. She now is the Mallinckrodt Professor of Physics and Applied Physics at Harvard.

Dr. Hau’s scientific and service contributions have been recognized through honors that include:
* the MacArthur Fellow 2001–2006;
* the NKT award, awarded by the Danish Physical Society, 2001;
* the Ole Rømer Medal, awarded by the president of the University of Copenhagen, 2001;
* an Honorary Degree, Æreshåndværker Kjøbenhavns Håndværkerforening, awarded in the presence of Her Majesty, Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, Copenhagen, 2001;
* recipient of the Samuel Friedman Rescue Award, awarded by the Friedman Foundation, University of California, Los Angeles, 2001;
* recipient of the Year 2000 Award from the Top Danmark Foundation, Copenhagen Denmark, 2000;
* recipient of the J. C. Jacobsen 200 Year Anniversary Award, awarded by the Carlsberg Foundation, Denmark, 1989;
* recipient of the Research Fellowship, 1986–1989, awarded by the Faculty of Sciences, University of Aarhus, Denmark. Dr. Hau recently was awarded an honorary appointment to the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters.

Light to matter

Dr. Hau and her associates at Harvard University have successfully transformed light into matter and back into light using Bose–Einstein condensates. Details of the experiment are discussed in the February 8, 2007 publication of the journal "Nature". [cite journal |author=Ginsberg, Garner and Hau |title=Coherent control of optical information with matter wave dynamics | journal=Nature |volume=445 |pages=623–626 |date=8 February 2007 |doi=10.1038/nature05493 |url=http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v445/n7128/abs/nature05493.html |format=abstract]

References

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Further reading

* cite web |url=http://www.seas.harvard.edu/haulab/ |title=Hau Lab at Harvard |accessdate=2008-08-03
work=Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences |publisher=Harvard University
* cite web |url=http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=7314502 |publisher=National Public Radio
title=Trapping Light and Saving It for Later |accessdate=2008-08-03 |date=2007-02-09 |format=audio |work=Talk of the Nation
quote=Scientists manage to stop light, hold it trapped in a cloud of chilled atoms known as a Bose Einstein condensate, and then release it in a second cloud a short distance away. We'll talk about the work and its potential applications in information processing.
* Citation |last=Holloway |first=Marguerite |date=September 2007 |title=What Visions in the Dark of Light
periodical=Scientific American |publisher=Scientific American, Inc. |volume=297 |issue=3 |pages=50–53
url=http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=what-visions-in-the-dark |accessdate=2008-08-03 Article subtitle: "Lene Vestergaard Hau made headlines by slowing light to below highway speed. Now the ringmaster of light can stop it, extinguish it and revive it - and thereby give quantum information a new look."