Coherent atomic matter waves - Ondes de matiere coherentes: 27 July - 27 August 1999

Progress in atomic physics has been so vigorous during the past decade that one is hard pressed to follow all the new developments. In the early 1990s the first atom interferometers opened a new field in which we have been able to use the wave nature of atoms to probe fundamental quantum me chanics questions as well as to make precision measurements. Coming fast on the heels of this development was the demonstration of Bose Einstein condensation in dilute atomic vapors which intensified res...