Lene Vestergaard Hau (born November 13, 1959 in Vejle, Denmark) is a Danish physicist who is currently the Mallinckrodt Professor of Physics and of Applied Physics at Harvard University. She received a PhD from Aarhus University. In 1999, she led a Harvard University team who, by use of a Bose–Einstein condensate, succeeded in slowing a beam of light to about 17 metres per second, and, in 2001, was able to stop a beam completely. Later work based on these experiments led to the transfer of light to matter, then from matter back into light, a process with important implications for quantum encryption and quantum computing. More recent work has involved research into novel interactions between ultracold atoms and nanoscopic-scale systems. In addition to teaching physics and applied physics,