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| Research Award Winners 1996 |
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 | | Dr. Dieter Pohl, Zurich, Switzerland, proved that it is possible to build a light microscope which uses no lenses, but which transports light to the specimen through a fine probe. In this way, the resolution limit of the microscope which was considered as insurmountable for more than 100 years has been lowered by at least one order of magnitude: These near-field microscopes today operate with a typical resolution of 100 nm, with 10 nm already being possible and even 1 nm within reach. |
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 | | Dr. Eric A. Cornell, Boulder, USA, devised a remarkable experiment to verify an important theoretical consequence of the quantum theory – the Bose-Einstein Condensation of atoms. Here, optics play a key role: with the help of laser light, he succeeded in cooling the atoms to the required low temperatures of 100 nanokelvins above absolute zero temperature. This experiment now permits the actual examination of a long-predicted state of matter. |
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