Lincoln Turner
 Lincoln Turner |
Fulbright Postdoctral Award
Media Profile
“The Abraham force is a scientific enigma now one century old. Despite the advanced state of modern theories of light and matter, it remains unknown how great the recoil is when light passes through a transparent material. Even the direction of the recoil is unknown.”
Lincoln Turner has won the Fulbright Postdoctoral Award to conduct research at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Maryland attempting to measure the Abraham force. Lincoln is a Physics graduate with First Class Honours and a University Medal from Flinders University and a PhD from the University of Melbourne. He is currently a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Melbourne researching atomic and optical physics.
Precision measurements are the hidden foundation of modern technology: atomic clocks keep our communications networks synchronised and enable global positioning satellites to guide ships and aircraft to centimetre accuracy. Experiments at the forefront of precision measurement, such as the proposed detection of the Abraham force, are the kernels of future advanced technologies.
Lincoln will conduct his research at NIST, the world’s leading standards laboratory which has the expertise in ultra-precise measurements needed to detect the Abraham force. Lincoln will be working with Bill Phillips, who shared the Nobel Prize in 1997 for developing laser-cooling techniques.
Lincoln’s project will use a recently discovered state of ultra-cold matter, known as a Bose-Einstein condensate, to search for and attempt to measure the Abraham force. The creation of the first Bose-Einstein condensate in 1995 caused much excitement in the scientific community and resulted in the 2001 Nobel Prize for its discoverers. Using a condensate to detect the Abraham force would resolve a fundamental question in physics and open new frontiers in precision measurement technology.
Advances in imaging and time-resolved measurement of Bose-Einstein condensates will be useful to the growing community of researchers in the field. The extreme precision measurement technique developed during this project will provoke immediate interest from cold-atom researchers. These techniques will form the basis of metrology, communications and quantum computing as cold-atom technology permeates these fields.
On his return to Australia, Lincoln plans to be involved in teaching tertiary physics with a keen interest to develop curricula encompassing cutting edge physics. He also plans to establish collaboration between NIST and his future Australian employer to facilitate the exchange of people and ideas in this unique field.
During his studies Lincoln has actively been involved as a student representative on committees at department, faculty and university level. He originally served on the Council at the University of Melbourne Postgraduate Association and in 2000 established the Postgraduate Physics Student Society.