Atomic & Molecular Physics
The JILA community mourns the loss of Dr. Alan Gallagher, a trailblazing physicist, esteemed mentor, and JILA Fellow Adjoint, who passed away on November 20, 2024, at the age of 88.
Gallagher鈥檚 career was marked by an enduring commitment to scientific inquiry and innovation, particularly in the realms of atomic and molecular physics. He was known for his pioneering work on collisional radiation and line-shape theory, including research that utilized spectroscopic methods to map out atomic and molecular interaction potentials. His contributions reshaped our understanding of phenomena such as pressure broadening and the spectra of colliding atoms.
JILA Fellow and NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) Physicist and University of Colorado Boulder Physics professor Adam Kaufman and his team have ventured into the minuscule realms of atoms and electrons. Their research involves creating an advanced optical atomic clock using a lattice of strontium atoms, enhanced by quantum entanglement鈥攁 phenomenon that binds the fate of particles together. This ambitious project could revolutionize timekeeping, potentially surpassing the "standard quantum limit" of precision.
In collaboration with JILA and NIST Fellow Jun Ye, the team highlighted their findings in Nature, demonstrating how their clock, operating under certain conditions, could exceed conventional accuracy benchmarks. Their work advances timekeeping and opens doors to new quantum technologies, such as precise environmental sensors.
Anya Grafov, a graduate student at JILA, has been awarded the Best Poster Award at the IEEE Magnetics Society Summer School 2024. Studying under JILA Fellows and University of Colorado Boulder Physics professors Margaret Murnane and Henry Kapteyn, Grafov's poster titled 鈥淧robing Ultrafast Spin Dynamics with Extreme Ultraviolet High Harmonics鈥 was one of only nine to receive this prestigious recognition.
Yunzhe 鈥淥liver鈥 Shao, a graduate student at JILA in the group led by JILA Fellows and University of Colorado Boulder Physics professors Margaret Murnane and Henry Kapteyn, has been awarded the Best Paper Award at the IEEE Conference on Computational Imaging Using Synthetic Apertures.
We recently demonstrated a new architecture for programmable control of Hubbard systems of neutral atoms. Here we used this platform to prepare and control systems of up to 180 particles. We study how their dynamics realize the boson sampling problem, originally formulated for photonics.
Our paper demonstrating the omg-architecture and mid-circuit operations in Ytterbium-171 has been published in PRX. Congratulations to the team!
The Heising-Simons Foundation's Science program has announced a generous grant of $3 million over three years, aimed at bolstering theoretical and experimental research efforts to bridge the realms of Atomic, Molecular, and Optical (AMO) physics with quantum gravity theories. Among the recipients, a notable grant was awarded to a multi-investigator collaboration spearheaded by the University of Colorado Boulder (蜜桃传媒破解版下载) and JILA, a joint institute of 蜜桃传媒破解版下载 and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).
NIST Fellow and University of Colorado Boulder Physics professor Jun Ye, in collaboration with JILA and NIST Fellow James K. Thompson, has used a specific process known as spin squeezing to generate quantum entanglement, resulting in an enhancement in clock performance operating at the 10-17stability level. Their novel experimental setup, published in Nature Physics, also allowed the researchers to directly compare two independent spin-squeezed ensembles to understand this level of precision in time measurement, a level never before reached with a spin-squeezed optical lattice clock.
Recently graduated Ph.D. researchers Bin Wang and Nathan Brooks, working with JILA Fellows Margaret Murnane and Henry Kapteyn, developed a novel method that uses short-wavelength light with a special vortex or donut shape to scan these repeating surfaces, resulting in more varied diffraction patterns. This allowed the researchers to capture high-fidelity image reconstructions using this new approach, which they recently published in Optica.
While academia has traditionally been the primary path for physicists, the industrial sector offers unique opportunities and advantages. This was certainly the case for Dr. Bin Wang, who was recently a JILA postdoctoral researcher, now a Senior Software Engineer at ASML.