A team of scientists working the Institute of Electronic Structure and Laser at the Foundation for Research and Technology (FORTH) on the island of Crete has created the world's most powerful atom laser, fully seven times stronger than any developed to date. The new ultra-bright atom laser was presented in a paper submitted to the international science periodical New Journal of Physics published on March 28.

The team, led by German physicist Wolf von Klitzing, with postgraduate researcher Vasiliki Bolpasi heading the list of authors created atom lasers emitting beams of matter instead of the beams of light, emitted by conventional optical lasers, with millions of atoms taking the place of photons in a cohesive beam. Now still at an early stage, there are a number of issues that need to be resolved before atom lasers can find practical applications. According to the researchers, among the most exciting possible applications for a bright atom laser will be a matter–wave interferometer, where the wave-nature of the atoms will be exploited to make ultra-accurate measurements of gravitation or rotation or to probe the magnetic and electric properties of surfaces.