Original BEC Experiment in Gaithersburg: Vented!

The first Na BEC experiment in Gaithersburg was vented today.  This experiment has lead a long and happy life, first creating a Na BEC in 1998, then studying solitons, optical lattices, four-wave mixing, and more recently looking at atoms in toroidal traps under the direction of Gretchen Campbell.

The image shows Bill Phillips pressing the “vent” button.  Good bye Na BEC experiment!