Steven Chu

Steven Chu is an American physicist who shared the 1997 Nobel Prize in Physics for developing methods to cool and trap atoms with laser light. He later served as U.S. Secretary of Energy.

Laser cooling: A set of techniques that use light to reduce the motion and temperature of atoms. Chu helped develop methods that slow atoms through repeated exchanges of momentum with laser photons.
Arthur Ashkin: An American physicist who pioneered optical trapping and shared the 2018 Nobel Prize in Physics. Ashkin’s optical-force research helped establish the experimental groundwork for trapping atoms with light.
Atomic clock: A clock that measures time using the resonant frequency of atomic transitions. Laser-cooled atoms can reduce motion-related errors in precise frequency measurements.
United States Department of Energy: A U.S. federal department responsible for energy policy, national laboratories, and nuclear security. Chu led the department as secretary from 2009 to 2013.
Optical molasses: An arrangement of intersecting laser beams that slows atoms in three dimensions. Chu and colleagues demonstrated this method as a way to cool neutral atoms.
Claude Cohen-Tannoudji: A French physicist who shared the 1997 Nobel Prize in Physics for methods of laser cooling and trapping atoms. He shared the prize with Chu and developed complementary theoretical and experimental methods.
Atom interferometer: An instrument that uses quantum interference between atomic matter waves to measure physical quantities. Cold atoms provide slow, controllable matter waves for sensitive measurements.
Energy policy of the United States: Federal and state decisions shaping energy production, distribution, efficiency, and use in the United States. Chu’s tenure placed his scientific expertise within national energy-policy debates.
Magneto-optical trap: A device that uses laser light and a magnetic-field gradient to cool and confine atoms. This trap extends laser cooling by holding atoms near a central region.
William D. Phillips: An American physicist who shared the 1997 Nobel Prize in Physics for cooling and trapping atoms with laser light. Phillips’s independent experiments helped establish the field recognized alongside Chu’s work.

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