News

In a recent significant visit to JILA, a joint institute established by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the University of Colorado Boulder, 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 University of Colorado Boulder and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), has been awarded the esteemed Nick Cobb Memorial Scholarship. Mentored by JILA Fellows and University of Colorado Boulder 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.

To honor students' abilities for clear and effective communication in quantum physics, Optica offers a yearly "best paper" award at its International Conference on Advanced Solid State Lasers. This year, JILA graduate student Daniel Carlson was among the list of winners, with his presentation "Carbon K-Edge Soft X-Rays Driven by a 3 µm,1 kHz OPCPA Laser System" winning over the judges. 

Every year, the Frontiers in Optics conference holds the Emil Wolf Outstanding Student Paper Competition, acknowledging the excellence of students in presenting their work at the conference in both paper and poster form. This year, JILA graduate student Jeremy Thurston of the Murnane and Kapteyn research groups showcased his work in both a paper and presentation titled: "Bright Tunable Ultrafast Deep- and Vacuum-Ultraviolet Harmonic Combs," which was awarded a prize by the judges for excellence in communication. 

Every year, the Colorado Photonics Industry Association (CPIA) holds a university meeting where students from several of Colorado's prominent universities present their work as a poster to an industry audience, followed by networking with potential employers. For students, it's an excellent opportunity to practice public speaking, share their current research projects, and find potential industry jobs. Each year, three students are awarded a cash prize for how well they communicate their research and the design of their poster. 

This year, JILA graduate students Qizhong Liang, from JILA and NIST Fellow Jun Ye's research group, and Drew Morrill, from JILA Fellows Margaret Murnane's and Henry Kapteyn's research group, have been awarded prizes for their poster presentations. 

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. “I decided to pursue my career in the semiconductor industry,” explained Wang. “At ASML, we are trying to use photolithographic machines to print very small features on a semiconducting wafer. It works like a projector where a template is projected onto a screen. But our “projector” is not perfect and there is some distortion between what is on the template and what we get on the screen (silicon wafers in our case).” 

To overcome this issue, Wang and his team work on designing software systems that can modify patterns on the template to compensate for the distortion. “The software incorporates physics, chemistry, maths, and computer science altogether to get the best correct on the template,” he added. 

Before starting at ASML in April of 2023, Wang worked with JILA Fellows and University of Colorado Boulder professors Margaret Murnane and Henry Kapteyn. Wang joined the Murane/Kapteyn research group in 2016 as a graduate student (though he eventually became a JILA postdoc), focusing on specialized ultraviolet light sources and applications. 

Renowned scientist, JILA Fellow, and University of Colorado Boulder professor Margaret Murnane has been granted an honorary doctorate from the prestigious University of Salamanca, recognizing her outstanding contributions to the field of ultrafast laser science. As a trailblazer in her field, Murnane's groundbreaking research has revolutionized our understanding of light and opened up new avenues for scientific discovery and technological innovation. This esteemed recognition from one of the oldest universities in the world serves as a testament to Murnane's remarkable achievements and lasting impact on the scientific community.

JILA's Postdoc Group, an internal organization supporting postdoctoral researchers within JILA, held a career panel titled: "Insights for Applying for Faculty Positions as a Postdoctoral Researcher." The panel featured three JILA Fellows: Margaret Murnane, Shuo Sun, and Graeme Smith, and J. Curtis Beimborn II, the Director of the W.M. Keck Laboratory at JILA, who recently accepted a faculty position on the East Coast. 

Former JILA postdoctoral researcher William “Bill” Peters recently passed away on May 29th after experiencing sudden cardiac arrest while playing soccer with his daughter. Peters was part of JILA Fellows Henry Kapteyn’s and Margaret Murnane’s research group within JILA. Before this position, Peters completed his Ph.D. in physical chemistry at the University of Colorado Boulder in 2013. After completing his postdoc at JILA in 2021, Peters became an optical engineer at Lockheed Martin, working on cutting-edge technological systems. 

His family is holding services this week in Colorado Springs and asks anyone interested in attending to contact Bill’s sister Rebecca Peters, for more information. 
 

Some of the most important research and discoveries in science have been made by women. To celebrate these inspiring individuals and to support the next generation of female scientists, the United Nations dedicated February 11 as "International Women and Girls in Science" day. To honor this tradition, JILA hosted a panel discussion/open-forum with both JILA Fellows and JILA staff as speakers.

Surrounded by some of the world’s most advanced lasers, computers, and microscopes sits Brendan McBennett, a graduate student at JILA. McBennett has been working in the laboratories of JILA Fellows Margaret Murnane and Henry Kapteyn, as part of the KM group since 2019, excited to see his research advance significantly over that time. “We use ultraviolet and extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lasers to study heat flow in nanostructured materials,” McBennett states. “EUV photons have a higher photon energy that makes them insensitive to electron dynamics in most materials, combined with nanometer wavelengths. This allows them to very precisely probe surface deformations induced by heat - or thermal phonons – to capture new materials behaviors.” In simple terms, McBennett is looking at heat dissipation in nanoelectronics. “Our experiments are providing a better understanding of phonon thermal transport in nanomaterials to inform the development of new predictive theories,” he says. “The field of phonon transport is still in its infancy, compared to our understanding of electrons and spins. There is a lot of technological potential, for energy efficiency, smarter design of nanoelectronics and quantum devices, and phonon-photon and phonon-electron analogs like phononic crystals and thermal diodes.” McBennett’s previous work at NREL (National Renewable Energy Laboratory) studied the power grid under varying renewable energy and energy efficiency scenarios, and his current research zooms in on this previous focus. 

JILA graduate student Brendan McBennett has been announced as the 2023 recipient of the $10,000 Nick Cobb Memorial Scholarship by SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics, and Siemens EDA. McBennett was cited for this award "for his potential contributions to the field related to advanced lithography." At JILA, McBennett works under the supervision of JILA Fellows and University of Colorado Boulder professors Dr. Margaret Murnane and Dr. Henry Kapteyn.

JILA scientist Dr. Chen-Ting Liao has been awarded a grant as part of the 2023 Young Investigator Research Program, or YIP. YIP was launched by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, or AFOSR, the basic research arm of the Air Force Research Laboratory. The AFOSR's mission is to support Air Force goals of control and maximum utilization of air, space, and cyberspace. To do this, AFSOR is awarding $25 million in grants to 58 scientists and engineers from 44 research institutions and businesses in 22 states in 2023. Two grants will be awarded to the quantum information sciences research portfolio for quantum computing funded by the National Security Agency. The remaining awards will be funded by AFOSR YIP and/or core research portfolio funds. YIP recipients receive three-year grants of up to $450,000. 

JILA Fellow Margaret Murnane has been selected as a recipient of the 2022 Institute of Physics Isaac Newton Medal and Prize. This prestigious award honors the legacy of the famous physicist Sir Isaac Newton, by commending those who have made world-leading contributions in the field of physics. Murnane received the award for pioneering and sustained contributions to the development of ultrafast lasers and coherent X-ray sources and the use of such sources to understand the quantum nature of materials.

Congratulations to Bin Wang for receiving the 2022 SPIE BACUS Scholarship!  The SPIE BACUS Scholarship was set up in 1998 to reward the most qualified students who wish to work in the fields of photomask and microlithography manufacturing for the semiconductor industry.  This award will partially assist with pursuing Bin's career goals in the fields of microlithography, photomask technology and/or optical/EUV photolithography technologies.  

The BACUS Steering Committee, in concert with the SPIE Scholarship Committee, will work with institutions of higher learning to identify candidates and award scholarships to help prepare them to make significant contributions to industry.

This year, JILA celebrates its 60th anniversary. Officially established on April 13, 1962, as a joint institution between the University of Colorado Boulder and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), JILA has become a world leader in physics research. Its rich history includes three Nobel laureates, groundbreaking work in laser development, atomic clocks, underlying dedication to precision measurement, and even competitive sports leagues. The process of creating this science goliath was not always straightforward and took the dedication and hard work of many individuals.

The European Commission will support a total of 1156 experienced post-doctoral researchers with €242 million to work at top universities, research centres, private organisations and small and medium-sized enterprises in Europe and the rest of the world. The European Research Executive Agency (REA) received 8356 applications for this call. The Commission will award €206 million to 1025 researchers through European Postdoctoral Fellowships, allowing them to carry out their projects in the EU or countries associated to Horizon Europe. The action provides support to excellent individual researchers to implement an original and personalized research project, while developing their skills through advanced training, international, interdisciplinary and inter-sectoral mobility.

Q-FARM (Quantum Fundamentals, ARchitectures and Machines) is Stanford's initiative in quantum science and engineering.  The QFARM student fellowships are awarded to advanced graduate students working in quantum science and engineering.  Fellowship criteria are excellence in their research, and demonstrated potential for building new links within the Stanford quantum community.  Each awardee receives two years of funding.

Congratulations to Brendan McBennett for winning a Best Student Presentation Award for Symposium EN03: Thermal Materials, Modeling and Technoeconomic Impacts for Thermal Management and Energy Application at the 2021 MRS Fall Meeting in Boston, Nov 29-Dec 2, 2021, for the presentation "New Transport Behavior in Nanostructured Silicon—Increased In-Plane Phonon Scattering Drives Enhanced Thermal Conduction"

Congratulations to Giulia Mancini for receiving the IUPAP Young Scientist Prize in Optics! In 2005 the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP) created the Young Scientist Prizes for its commissions. The international Commission of Optics (ICO), as an Affiliated Commission of IUPAP, decided in 2008 to adopt the IUPAP Young Scientist Prize in Optics. The IUPAP prize in optics will be awarded annually through ICO to a scientist who has made noteworthy contributions to applied optics and photonics during a maximum of 8 years of research experience after having earned a PhD degree. Career interruptions will not be counted as time of research experience.

Congratulations Sinéad for receiving a best ORAL award at the 2021 A-round-the-Clock Around-the-World Magnetics conference!

The National Science Foundation has renewed for five years and more than $22 million the cutting-edge Science and Technology Center on Real-Time Functional Imaging (STROBE). STROBE is developing the Microscopes of Tomorrow, and is a partnership between six institutions –– University of Colorado Boulder, UCLA, UC Berkeley, Florida International University, Fort Lewis College, and UC Irvine.

The NIST NRC Postdoctoral Program supports a nationwide competitive postdoctoral program administered in cooperation with the National Academies/National Research Council (NRC). The postdoctoral program brings research scientists and engineers of unusual promise and ability to perform advanced research related to the NIST mission, introduces the latest university research results and techniques to NIST scientific programs, strengthens mutual communication with university researchers, shares NIST unique research facilities with the U.S. scientific and engineering communities, and provides a valuable mechanism for the transfer of research results from NIST to the scientific and engineering communities.

Kevin Dorney, a former STROBE graduate student at CU Boulder in the Kapteyn and Murnane research group, has been awarded the Madame Curie Scholarship, which finances a two-year Postdoc Program at the IMEC AttoLab starting in May 2021.

The NSF GRFP recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students in NSF-supported STEM disciplines who are pursuing research-based master’s and doctoral degrees at accredited US institutions. The five-year fellowship includes three years of financial support including an annual stipend of $34,000 and a cost of education allowance of $12,000 to the institution.

In the first episode of the brand new podcast, Buff Innovator Insights, JILA Fellow Margaret Murnane speaks on her background, her research, and her goal to produce the microscopes of the future. 

JILA Fellow Margaret Murnane has been awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Limerick this year - her 6th Honorary Doctorate.

Yuka Esashi has been announced as the 2021 recipient of the $10,000 Nick Cobb Memorial Scholarship by SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics, and Mentor Graphics, a Siemens Business, for her potential contributions to the field related to advanced lithography.  Esashi is pursuing her PhD in physics at the University of Colorado Boulder in the Kapteyn-Murnane group. She is co-lead of a research team that is addressing much-needed advances in metrology techniques for the semiconductor industry, where techniques with high resolution, fidelity and sensitivity are needed. With her team, Esashi has developed phase-sensitive EUV imaging reflectometry, a novel technique which combines computational imaging with EUV reflectometry to measure depth-dependent chemical composition of semiconductor samples in a spatially-resolved and non-destructive manner. In her current research, she is planning on applying this technique to a wider range of next-generation structures and materials. Esashi received her BA in Physics from Reed College in 2017, and her MS in Physics from the University of Colorado Boulder in 2019.

Margaret Murnane and Henry Kapteyn, who pioneered technologies for generating coherent X-rays, which helped propel research in dynamic processes in atoms, molecules and materials, have been named fellows of the National Academy of Inventors.

Congratulations to Yuka Esashi for Being Selected as a Winner of the 2020 Colorado Photonics Industry Association (CPIA) Poster Contest. Yuka’s poster title is, “Phase-Sensitive EUV Imaging Reflectometer for Depth-Dependent Composition Determination.”

Jorge Nicolás (Nico) Hernández Charpak received the 2020 University of Colorado President’s Diversity Award. He was nominated by the STROBE SUPER team. This annual award recognizes significant achievements of faculty*, staff, students, and academic or administrative units in developing a culturally and intellectually diverse university community reflective of inclusive excellence.

Margaret Murnane and Henry Kapteyn are the third married couple to win the coveted award from The Franklin Institute.

Winners of the R&D 100 Awards have been announced by R&D World magazine and its new parent company, WTWH Media, LLC. “This awards program is so well recognized across the R&D community. Being named as one of the R&D 100 is an incredible honor,” said Paul J. Heney, Vice President, Editorial Director for R&D World. “These 100 winning products and technologies are the disruptors that will change industries and make the world a better place in the coming years.”

Analytical/Test Category:

QM Quantum Microscope – Next Generation Microscopy & Analysis
KMLabs, Inc.
JILA at the University of Colorado, the STROBE center

Thank you to the SRC students, industry, and faculty that attended TECHCON and made it a great success. The final event for TECHCON 2019 was presenting Top 10 Student Presentation Awards and the URI Best Poster Awards at Tuesday’s Dinner.

2019 TECHCON Student Presentation Award Winner:

Joshua Knobloch
Nanoscale Metrology and Imaging of Layered and Nano-enhanced Materials using Coherent Extreme Ultraviolet Beams.

The NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students in NSF-supported science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines who are pursuing research-based Master’s and doctoral degrees at accredited United States institutions.

JILA Fellow Margaret Murnane was one of 10 recipients of the Presidential Distinguished Service Award for the Irish Abroad. Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney announced the names of the award winners on the 28th of November 2018. These awards, established in 2012, are meant to recognize the contributions of members of the Irish diaspora.

CO-LABS presented JILA’s ultrafast imaging team, led by Fellows Margaret Murnane and Henry Kapteyn, the 2018 Governor’s Award for High-Impact Research. Murnane and Kapteyn were honored for their work in revolutionizing ultrafast and nanoscale imaging through the research and development of tabletop x-ray sources. These advancements enable real-time imaging of the structure, chemistry, and dynamics of materials at the level of small collections of atoms. The applications range from improving semiconductor devices and magnetic storage to understanding the fundamental physics and chemistry of complex materials. By designing, developing, and eventually enabling the availability of this technology through KM-Labs, Murnane and Kapteyn have enabled many curious researchers to further their discoveries.  

Henry Kapteyn has been elected as a 2018 member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He joins some of the world’s most accomplished leaders from academia, business, public affairs, the humanities, and the arts, including JILA Fellows David Nesbitt (2013), Margaret Murnane (2006), Eric Cornell (2005), and Carl Lineberger (1995), and such luminaries as Benjamin Franklin (1781), Alexander Hamilton (1791), Ralph Waldo Emerson (1864), Charles Darwin (1874), Albert Einstein (1924), and Martin Luther King, Jr. (1966).

The Department of Energy National Nuclear Security Administration Stewardship Science Graduate Fellowship (DOE NNSA SSGF) provides excellent financial benefits and professional development opportunities to students pursuing a Ph.D. in fields of study that solve complex science and engineering problems critical to stewardship science.

JILA Fellow Margaret Murnane was awarded the Science Foundation Ireland’s (SFI) prestigious St. Patrick’s Day Science Medal on 14 March 2018 in Washington D.C., for her significant contribution to academia, research and industry. Murnane’s many achievements include designing some of the fastest lasers in the world and creating table-top affordable X-ray lasers. Applications of both works advance the wider research community.

JILA graduate student Robert Karl, Jr won the 2018 Karl Urbanek Best Student Paper award at SPIE Advanced Lithography. Karl is a graduate student in the Kapteyn-Murnane group at JILA. His paper was entitled, “Characterization and Imaging of Nanostructured Materials using Tabletop Extreme Ultraviolet Light Sources”. The award was presented by metrology, inspection, and process control for microlithography conference chair Vladimir Ukrainsev, and conference co-chair Ofer Adan. 

Former JILAn Dennis F. Gardner Jr. (Kapteyn-Murnane group) has been awarded the 2017 American Physical Society’s Carl E. Anderson Division of Laser Science Dissertation Award for his doctoral work in extreme ultraviolet (EUV) imaging. Gardner received $1,000 and a certificate citing his contribution to laser science.

Christina Porter has won the 2017 Karel Urbanek Best Student Paper Award. The award consists of a wall plaque, honorarium, and trophy. The award was presented  on Thursday March 2, 2017, at this year's Metrology, Inspection, and Process Control for Microlithography conference at the SPIE Advanced LIthography in San Jose, California. The award is sponsored by KLA-Tencor.

Margaret Murnane has been awarded the 2017 Optical Society of America’s (OSA’s) Frederic Ives Medal/Quinn Prize. The award recognizes overall distinction in optics and is the highest award given by OSA. The award was given to Murnane “for pioneering and sustained contributions to ultrafast science ranging from femtosecond lasers to soft x-ray high-harmonic generation to attosecond studies of atoms, molecules, and surfaces.”

The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences has just published a profile of Fellow Henry Kapteyn, a recently elected member of the National Academy of Sciences. The profile presents highlights of Kapteyn's life as well as his long and productive career in developing ultrashort-wavelength lasers, including table-top x-ray lasers. Many of Kapteyn's achievements occurred during a long and fruitful collaboration with his wife, Fellow Margaret Murnane. The profile accompanies Kapteyn’s Inaugural Article entitled "A new regime of nanoscale thermal transport: Collective diffusion increases dissipation efficiency."

Science News has a delightful profile of Senior Research Associate Tenio Popmintchev as part of the magazines annual feature: The SN10: Meet the scientists making the next big discoveries.

Jennifer Ellis won an Optical Society of America (OSA) award in recognition of her excellent oral contribution at the International Conference on Ultrafast Phenomena, held July 17–22 in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Ellis, who is a graduate student with the Kapteyn/Murnane group, spoke about her work on Femtosecond Dynamics of Solvated Electrons in Nanodroplets Probed with Extreme Ultraviolet Beams. She told how her group used EUV light to conduct time-resolved photoemission measurements of isolated nanodroplets in vacuum. With this technique, her group was able to observe what happens when nanodroplets absorb EUV photons. Ellis and her colleagues were able to watch the creation and relaxation of electrons surrounded by solvent molecules––inside the nanodroplets! Congratulations Jennifer!

Former JILAn Maithreyi Gopalakrishnan is one of two 2016 Outstanding Graduates for Service in the University of Colorado Boulder’s College of Engineering and Applied Science. Gopalakrishnan graduated from CU on May 7, 2016, with Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in engineering physics. As part of her 5-year program of study, she spent two years working with the magnetics group in the Kapteyn/Murnane labs.

Graduate student Chris Mancuso and senior research associate Dan Hickstein of the Kapteyn/Murnane group recently spoke with Amanda Grennell, a 5^th year PhD candidate in Chemistry at the University of Colorado Boulder. The researchers discussed the K/M group’s paper “Strong-field ionization with two-color circularly polarized laser fields,” which appeared in Physical Review A in March, 2015. The result is a delightful blog post of the K/M group’s groundbreaking research on imaging with circularly polarized laser fields. The story includes terrific animations prepared by Hickstein. The story was posted by the BioFrontiers Science Alliance.