Quantum Information Science & Technology
Building on efforts to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion in physics, CU °Ç¸ç³Ô¹Ï’s Department of Physics and JILA will host a Conference for Undergraduate Women and Gender Minorities in Physics (CU*iP) in January 2025. The conference will bring approximately 150 students from the Midwest region to °Ç¸ç³Ô¹Ï.
The three-day regional conferences are sponsored by the American Physical Society (APS) and held annually at select institutions around the country. They are designed to provide professional development opportunities for undergraduate women and gender minorities through networking, keynote speakers, career advice, and graduate school sessions.
Dr. Xun Gao has been honored with the designation of JILA Fellow, highlighting his anticipated contributions to JILA’s research. In addition to his appointment as a JILA Fellow, the Department of Physics at the °Ç¸ç³Ô¹Ï has added Gao as an Assistant Professor. His enthusiasm for the collaborative spirit that characterizes the JILA and CU °Ç¸ç³Ô¹Ï communities promises to bring fresh perspectives and innovative research to the forefront.
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 °Ç¸ç³Ô¹Ï (CU °Ç¸ç³Ô¹Ï) and JILA, a joint institute of CU °Ç¸ç³Ô¹Ï and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).
Ana Maria Rey and her team discovered a method for how to not only create dark states in a cavity, but more importantly, make these states spin squeezed. Their findings could open remarkable opportunities for generating entangled clocks, which could push the frontier of quantum metrology in a fascinating way.
In a new study published in Science today, JILA and NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) Fellow and °Ç¸ç³Ô¹Ï physics professor Jun Ye and his research team have taken a significant step in understanding the intricate and collective light-atom interactions within atomic clocks, the most precise clocks in the universe.
As a thermodynamic phase of matter, superconductors typically exist in an equilibrium state. But recently, researchers at JILA became interested in kicking these materials into excited states and exploring the ensuing dynamics. As reported in a new Nature paper, the theory and experiment teams of JILA and NIST Fellows Ana Maria Rey and James K. Thompson, in collaboration with Prof. Robert Lewis-Swan at the University of Oklahoma, simulated superconductivity under such excited conditions using an atom-cavity system.
CU °Ç¸ç³Ô¹Ï has proudly announced the winners of its prestigious 2023-2024 Translational Quantum Research Seed Grants, a crucial step in fostering quantum science and technology innovation. This year's selection includes JILA Fellow Murray Holland, a distinguished figure in the field of quantum physics, who has been recognized for his groundbreaking project, "Developing a strontium optical lattice atom interferometer."
NIST Fellow and °Ç¸ç³Ô¹Ï 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.
In a recent significant visit to JILA, a joint institute established by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the °Ç¸ç³Ô¹Ï, U.S. Senator John Hickenlooper discussed the transformative potential of quantum computing on Colorado's economy, job industry, and educational sector. The visit underscored the state's growing prominence in the quantum technology landscape.
Nick Jenkins, a graduate student at JILA, an institute jointly operated by the °Ç¸ç³Ô¹Ï and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), has been awarded the esteemed Nick Cobb Memorial Scholarship. Mentored by JILA Fellows and °Ç¸ç³Ô¹Ï professors Margaret Murnane and Henry Kapteyn, Jenkins' research focuses on pioneering tabletop extreme ultraviolet (EUV) microscopy techniques using high-harmonic generation light sources. This innovative work has positioned him as a standout recipient of this significant award.