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In the midst of a global pandemic, researchers and engineers find partnerships in unexpected places.

Cooling and trapping atoms has helped scientists advance their understanding of atomic and quantum physics over several decades. Now it’s time to move on to more complex systems, like molecules. But molecules have proven tricky to cool and trap efficiently. A new study from the Ye Lab has found a way to cool yttrium monoxide robustly and efficiently, which will allow them to study how they interact with each other in the quantum regime.

By using optical tweezers, the Kaufman and Ye groups are exploring a new kind of optical atomic clock—one that can run measurements for more than half a minute, an unprecedented coherence time. Not only does this finding open new possibilities for precision measurement, it’s a starting point to engineer interactions between many coherent and carefully-controlled atoms.

Understanding how three atoms interact when they are close together is really tricky. For the past decade scientists agreed that there was a universal “sweet spot”, a range called the van der Waals universality. In that range, three atoms were close enough that their interactions could be explained with simpler two-body formulas. But the Cornell Group at JILA is testing the limits of van der Waals universality, which could help form a better predictive model for other atom species.

Using a new silicon cavity, JILA’s Ye Group has built a laser with improved coherence to reduce the noise in two optical atomic clocks and achieve record high stability. Improving atomic clocks’ stability is crucial to evaluating the clock accuracy and using these tools for scientific experiments in physics and other disciplines.

When the Ye group measured the total quantum state of buckyballs, we learned that this large molecule can play by full quantum rules. Specifically, this measurement resolved the rotational states of the buckyball, making it the largest and most complex molecule to be understood at this level.

JILA researchers have created the first quantum degenerate gas of polar molecules. This new form of matter has been a decade-long goal of molecular chemistry. This achievement will allow researchers to better understand the role of quantum physics in chemical reactions, and could make molecules a potential candidate for quantum information storage or precision measurement tools.

The American Physical Society announced JILA Fellow Jun Ye as the recipient of the 2019 Norman F. Ramsey Prize in Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics, and in Precision Tests of Fundamental Laws and Symmetries. Ye was recognized for his ground-breaking contributions to precision measurements and the quantum control of atomic and molecular systems, including atomic clocks.

With the advent of the laser, the fuzzy bands glowing from atoms transformed into narrow lines of distinct color. These spectral lines became guiding beacons visible from the quantum frontier. More than a half century later, we stand at the next frontier. The elegant physics that will decode today’s mysteries (such as dark matter, dark energy, and the stability of our fundamental constants, to name a few) is still shrouded in shadows. But a new tool promises illumination.

We all know what a tenth of a second feels like. It’s a jiffy, a snap of the fingers, or a camera shutter click. But what does 14 billion years–the age of the universe–feel like? JILA’s atomic clock has the precision to measure the age of the universe to within a tenth of a second. That sort of precision is difficult to intuit. Yet, JILA’s atomic clock, which is the most precise clock in the world, continues to improve its precision. The latest jump in precision, of nearly 50 percent, came about from a new perspective.