AFRL scientist recognized for his work

  • Published
  • By Adam Bailey
  • Nucleus staff writer
KIRTLAND AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. --  Dr. Matthew Squires, a scientist in the cold atom lab at the Air Force Research Laboratory, and his coworkers are daring to go where no one else in the Department of Defense has gone before.

Recently, Squires, Spence Olson and Bryan Kasch have created a Bose-Einstein condensate.

"I believe that we're the first group in the Department of Defense to make a Bose-Einstein condensate," Squires said.

What that means is they brought about a quantum state of matter by cooling the temperature a dilute gas of bosons -- which are subatomic particles -- close to absolute zero. Bose-Einstein condensates are used to study the quantum behavior of particles, and it's science that builds on what Squires has already done.

He received the Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers in 2012. Squires and 95 other scientists and engineers were given that award in Washington, D.C., last year.

"We started the day by receiving the award at the Smithsonian Institution and then got to spend the afternoon at the White House," Squires said. "It was pretty neat once we got to the White House. The barriers and mats that are usually on the floor for tours weren't there and they let us look around and see things up close before the president came down to see us."

The work Squires did controlling laser-cooled atoms using a chip to trap the atoms in a magnetic field is what got him recognized for the presidential award.

"I constructed a chip that could handle 20 times the current, 400 times the power, was 20 times lower the cost and much faster to make. Those are significant jumps in performance," Squires said.

When an electrical current runs through the chip, it creates a carefully engineered magnetic field. The field is used to capture and control atoms, but the atoms have to be extremely cold, Squires said.

"We use lasers to cool atoms to less than 100 microkelvin, which is almost absolute zero and allows us to make precise measurements with the atoms," Squires said.

Squires is working on another chip to be used after the atoms have been cooled and captured. That chip will be a cold atom gyroscope, or a device somewhat similar to a spinning top, and will be used to measure the orientation and rotation of the platform, he said. "It's a device that can be used as a backup GPS for precise navigation in airplanes."

Squires has also been recognized for his service work. Squires mentors students over the summer at AFRL, is active in his church and helps with Boy Scout troops. He received the Junior Scientific Technical Achievement in 2010 and Outstanding Mentor awards from AFRL in 2013.

"It was very humbling to be singled out when there are hundreds of people doing science, and I want to continue down the path of doing great research," Squires said.