Rice researchers to build light-based crystal simulator

Rice researchers to build light-based crystal simulator "The beauty of the OLE program comes in using ultracold atoms as proxies for electrons. Prior research in Hulet's lab and others has shown that at cold enough temperatures, the behavior of atoms is dictated by the same quantum mechanical rules that govern the behavior of electrons.

The other technological piece of the simulator -- the "optical lattice" -- is created using several laser beams. The light from one beam can interact with and cancel out light from other beams in a regular pattern. Using several lasers, the researchers can use this effect to create two- and three-dimensional light patterns that mimic the lattice-like atomic structure of crystals."