Physics In Free Fall - Science News

Physics In Free Fall - Science News: "One of the biggest challenges for the researchers was miniaturizing the jungle of complex equipment usually needed to create and maintain a BEC. Normally, making a BEC requires a big laboratory “crammed with mirrors and lenses and all sorts of optical components,” says physicist Paulo Nussenzveig of the University of São Paulo in Brazil, who coauthored an accompanying article in the same issue of Science. “These guys fit the equivalent equipment into a 60-by-60 centimeter by 2-meter capsule and sent it down 120 meters and it smashed at the bottom. It’s really, really amazing.”