Eite Tiesinga (Fed)

Dr. Tiesinga's research is in two fields of science: (1) Atomic and Molecular Physics and (2) Precision Measurements and Fundamental Constants. The first research interest concerns the behavior of gasses of laser-cooled, micro-kelvin atoms. In particular, he studies the role of magnetic fields in setting the size of the cross section for collisions among these atoms, thereby making possible atomic-physics experiments that aim to simulate quantum phase transitions, like superfluid Cooper pairing. In a second application of ultracold, laser-cooled atoms, atoms are used to detect the presence of unwanted room-temperature atoms and molecules in ultra-high vacuum (UHV) applications. In effect, the atoms are used to measure pressure in the UHV domain. The second research direction concerns the collation of data on precision measurements and the theoretical description of these measurements with the aim to improve the values of fundamental constants, such as the fine-structure constant and the Newtonian constant of Gravitation.

Longer descriptions of current projects are found at:

• Controlling collisions between laser-cooled atoms using magnetic fields and nano-eV colliders
• Cold-atom-based sensor for measuring pressure in the ultra-high vacuum domain
• Fundamental Constants in Nature