New microwave imager uses ultracold atoms

Physics Today : A novel technique that uses ultracold atoms to image microwave magnetic fields has been developed by a team at the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics and Ludwig-Maximilians University in Munich. The atoms can serve as the basis of a sensitive microwave imager because they respond so readily to external magnetic fields. Wireless communications technology depends on the generation and detection of microwaves by integrated circuits, so the cold-atom technique could provide a noninvasive way to test the many components in laptops, cell phones, and other mobile devices. The results appear in the current issue of Applied Physics Letters .