Metrology and Time Crystals: Physics in Practice

Come learn about cutting-edge research from the graduate student community at UC Berkeley in a relaxed, sci-fi-themed cafe setting. This month features short talks by two physicists about metrology and time crystals. 

The audience is encouraged to interrupt and ask questions and engage in discussion with our speakers. Arrive at 6:30 pm and enjoy a variety of pinball machines, science trivia, home-roasted coffees and select beers. First talk begins at 7 pm.

Metrology: A Fine Art by Eric Copenhaver

You might not know it, but you are probably insatiably curious about just how much a cesium atom weighs. In fact, that quantity is one of the most carefully measured numbers humanity has to offer. But it’s not good enough. I’ll admit that measuring something more and more precisely can look nauseatingly boring from the outside, as if Science is trying to learn something it already knows. I’ll show you why precision measurement actually sheds light on some of the universe’s biggest unsolved mysteries.

Eric Copenhaver is just another kid from Akron. Raised in the heartland, he came to the Bay for its sunshine and Berkeley Physics. A fourth year PhD candidate studying with Holger Müller, the new techniques he works to develop for laser-cooled atom interferometry center on using lithium, the lightest atom ever used in these precision measurement devices. When not walking lasers, he enjoys hiking with his wife and concocting potential band names for all-physicist groups.

Solidified in History: Time Crystals Exist! by Thomas Mittiga

Lately, time crystals have been causing a lot of buzz as news outlets claim it breaks energy conservation and opens the doors to perpetual motion. In this talk, I will dispel the common misunderstandings of this exciting new phase of matter, explain what it is, and what it can do for us.

Annealed in the great furnaces of New York, this specimen exhibits a peculiar luster and versatility matched by the eclectic physics at the cusp of Atomic and Condensed Matter. Thomas Mittiga currently resides on the diamond nanomagnetometry experiment at Berkeley.