LEWISTON – William D. Phillips, who won the 1997 Nobel Prize in physics, will speak at Bates College at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 2, in Chase Hall Lounge on Campus Avenue.

Phillips will describe the work he and two other researchers did using lasers to “ultracool” and trap atoms. He is leader of the Laser Cooling and Trapping Group at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, Md.

Earlier this month, Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers used this process to cool sodium to the lowest temperature ever recorded, only half a billionth of a degree above absolute zero – that being minus 460 degrees Fahrenheit, at which temperature atomic motion ceases.

Atoms this cold exhibit weird properties that promise many practical uses, such as super-accurate atomic clocks and quantum computers that use individual atoms as working parts.

“Today more than 100 labs around the world are studying atoms, molecules and chemistry at low temperatures with laser-cooling technology,” said Stephen Gensemer, assistant professor of physics at Bates. “Dr. Phillips’ group continues to lead the way in the development of quantum computers using ultra cold atoms.

Phillips received his doctorate in physics in 1976 at MIT and did postdoctoral research there as well. He joined the staff of the National Institute of Standards and Technology in 1978.

For their pioneering work in using lasers to cool and trap atoms, Phillips and professors Steven Chu of Stanford University and Claude Cohen-Tannoudji of the Collge de France and the cole Normal Supérieure, Paris received the Nobel Prize in physics jointly. Also in 1997, Phillips was elected to the National Academy of Sciences.

The free public lecture is sponsored by the Department of Physics and the Office of the Dean of Faculty. For more information, call the college concierge at 207-786-6255.