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Nature 409, 461-462 (25 January 2001) | doi:10.1038/35054152
Stopping light in its tracks
Eric A. Cornell
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Abstract
Using lasers and ultracold atoms, physicists have found a way to stop and start a pulse of light. This magic trick may one day be used to store data in a quantum computer.
Imagine you are standing beside a railway track, waiting for the next express train. Stretched across the tracks in front of you is a sheet of some strange, iridescent fabric, as thin as silk, which the train is about to rip apart (a, above).
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