Research
The JILA AMO Physics Center engages in four far-reaching research collaborations. The first activity involves building complex ultracold matter from the ground up. Experimentalists and theorists investigate (1) strong interactions and novel behavior in Bose and Fermi gases and (2) dipolar molecular quantum gases and other quantum states of matter. The second activity focuses on engineering many-body systems using light-matter coupling. Here, experimentalists and theorists join forces to (1) study matter's interaction with light at the quantum level, (2) investigate the quantum interface between mechanical motion and light, and (3) harness ultrafast light pulses to study different materials.
The third activity emphasizes the understanding and control of molecule formation and behavior. Collaborative projects include (1) investigations of cold and ultracold chemistry, with the goal of gaining complete quantum control of molecule formation, (2) observations of both electron behavior and real-time interactions of electrons with the nucleus of atoms, and (3) development of new methods to control the behavior of molecules during chemical reactions. The fourth activity explores new, high-impact research. These innovative efforts include (1) developing atom chips and atomtronics (building cold-atom analogs of electronic devices), (2) improving atomic clock precision, (3) scattering beams of molecules off liquid surfaces, (4) searching for the electric dipole moment of the electron, and (5) developing x-ray-based methods for visualizing and controling energy flow in proteins.
To learn more about the center's ground-breaking research, please check out our research highlights, publications, and science nuggets.
Research Highlights
Incredibly sensitive measurements can be made using particles that are correlated in a special way (called entanglement.) Entanglement is one of the spooky properties of quantum mechanics – two particles interact and retain a connection, even if separated by huge distances. If you do something to one of the particles, its linked partners will also respond.
However, entangled quantum states are notoriously fragile. This fragility is an inherent part of their nature. Even so, a...
We can get valuable information about a material by studying how it responds to light. But up to now, researchers have been forced to ignore how some of light’s stranger quantum behavior, such as being in a superposition of one or more intensity states, affects these measurements. New research from the Cundiff group (with newly minted PhD Ryan Smith and graduate student Andy Hunter) has shown that it is possible to back-calculate how a semiconductor responds to light’s quantum...
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208. Developing and researching PhET simulations for teaching quantum mechanics. American Journal of Physics. 76
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2003. Vortex lattice dynamics in a dilute gas BEC. Journal of Low Temperature Physics. 134:683–688.
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2003. The variability of accretion on to Schwarzschild black holes from turbulent magnetized discs. Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc.. 341
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2003. Ultra-low jitter, 1550-nm mode-locked semiconductor laser synchronized to a visible optical frequency standard. Optics Letters. 28:813–815.
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2003. A two-atom picture of coherent atom-molecule quantum beats. New J. Phys.. 5
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2003. Thermally induced losses in ultra-cold atoms magnetically trapped near room-temperature surfaces. J. Low Temp. Phys.. 133
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2003. Theory of dissociative recombination of D3h triatomic ions applied to H3(+). Phys. Rev. Lett.. 90
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2003. Single-stage sub-Doppler cooling of alkaline earth atoms. Phys. Rev. Lett.. 90
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2003. Prospects for Bose-Einstein condensation in ground state molecules. 11th International Laser Physics Workshop. 13:1091–1094.