Research Highlights

Displaying 81 - 100 of 469
Laser Physics | Quantum Information Science & Technology
BCS: Building a Cavity Superconductor
Published: May 18, 2021

The idea of quantum simulation has only become more widely researched in the past few decades. Quantum simulators allow for the study of a quantum system that would be difficult to study easily and quickly in a laboratory or model with a supercomputer. A new paper published in Physical Review Letters, by a collaboration between theorists in the Rey Group and experimentalists in the Thompson laborator,y proposes a way to engineer a quantum simulator of superconductivity that can measure phenomena so far inaccessible in real materials. 

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PI(s):
Ana Maria Rey | James Thompson
Astrophysics
Scientists Dig Deeper into Subject of First-Ever Image of a Black Hole
Published: May 10, 2021

JILA Fellow Jason Dexter works with the Event Horizon Team to further study the first photograph ever taken of a black hole. 

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PI(s):
Jason Dexter
Atomic & Molecular Physics | Precision Measurement
NIST Team Compares 3 Top Atomic Clocks With Record Accuracy Over Both Fiber and Air
Published: March 24, 2021

In a significant advance toward the future redefinition of the international unit of time, the second, a research team led by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has compared three of the world’s leading atomic clocks with record accuracy over both air and optical fiber links.
 

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PI(s):
Jun Ye
Biophysics
The Forces involved in Folding Proteins
Published: March 22, 2021

In a new paper, JILA physicist Thomas Perkins collaborated with CU Biochemistry Prof. Marcello Sousa to dissect the mechanisms of how certain bacteria become more virulent. The research brings together the Perkins lab expertise in single-molecule studies and the Sousa lab expertise in the type III secretion system, a key component of Salmonella bacteria. 

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PI(s):
Thomas Perkins
Atomic & Molecular Physics | Biophysics | Chemical Physics
Highlighting the Research Centers within JILA
Published: March 18, 2021

JILA is the host of multiple centers within its campus. Some are National Science Foundation (NSF) funded and others funded by more private centers. Each center focuses on specific topics to advance the knowledge, education, and research on some of the biggest ideas within physics. 
 

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Quantum Information Science & Technology
Molecules in Flat Lands: an Entanglement Paradise
Published: March 18, 2021

Entangled particles have always fascinated physicists, as measuring one entangled particle can result in  a change in another entangled particle, famously dismissed as “spooky action at a distance” by Einstein. By now, physicists understand this strange effect and how to make use of it, for example to increase the sensitivity of measurements. However, entangled states are very fragile, as they can be easily disrupted by decoherence. Researchers have already created entangled states in atoms, photons, electrons and ions, but only recently have studies begun to explore  entanglement in gases of polar molecules. 

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PI(s):
Ana Maria Rey | Jun Ye
Quantum Information Science & Technology
Using Quantum Knots to Build a Secure Internet
Published: March 01, 2021

When looking within a quantum internet, the Sun Lab is looking at specifically photons. By entangling these photons, scientists tie little quantum knots between them, so they jointly represent the information to be delivered. The photons aren’t just paired off within these quantum knots. They’re connected to hundreds of other photons in a tree-shaped pattern. The robust redundancy of these photons means that scientists can still read the information, even if a few photons are lost.

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PI(s):
Shuo Sun
Astrophysics | Precision Measurement | Quantum Information Science & Technology
Scientists develop new, faster method for seeking out dark matter
Published: February 11, 2021

For nearly a century, scientists have worked to unravel the mystery of dark matter—an elusive substance that spreads through the universe and likely makes up much of its mass, but has so far proven impossible to detect in experiments. Now, a team of researchers have used an innovative technique called “quantum squeezing” to dramatically speed up the search for one candidate for dark matter in the lab. 

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PI(s):
Konrad Lehnert
Atomic & Molecular Physics | Laser Physics | Quantum Information Science & Technology
New JILA Tools ‘Turn On’ Quantum Gases of Ultracold Molecules
Published: December 12, 2020

For the first time, researchers can turn on an electric field to manipulate molecular interactions, get them to cool down further, and start to explore collective physics where all molecules are coupled to each other.

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PI(s):
Jun Ye
Atomic & Molecular Physics | Laser Physics | Quantum Information Science & Technology
JILA’s Electric ‘Knob’ Tunes Chemical Reaction Rates in Quantum Gas
Published: December 10, 2020

Building on their newfound ability to induce molecules in ultracold gases to interact with each other over long distances, JILA researchers have used an electric “knob” to influence molecular collisions and dramatically raise or lower chemical reaction rates.

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PI(s):
Jun Ye
Atomic & Molecular Physics | Laser Physics | Quantum Information Science & Technology
Advanced Atomic Clock Makes a Better Dark Matter Detector
Published: November 30, 2020

JILA researchers have used a state-of-the-art atomic clock to narrow the search for elusive dark matter, an example of how continual improvements in clocks have value beyond timekeeping.

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PI(s):
Jun Ye
Atomic & Molecular Physics
Measuring Spinning Donuts
Published: November 04, 2020

Follow that electron! JILA researchers have proposed a means of capturing an electron's flight path during ionization, and in doing so, determining the state of the atom at that moment.

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PI(s):
Andreas Becker | Agnieszka Jaron-Becker
Chemical Physics
Electron Fly-Bys on the Chemical Reaction Pathway
Published: November 02, 2020

When it comes to chemical reactions, shape matters. The Lewandowski Group have studied acetylene and its reactions with propyne and allene to find out how an isomer changes the chemical reaction pathway.

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PI(s):
Heather Lewandowski
Physics Education
Now Hiring: The New Quantum Workforce
Published: October 29, 2020

We're in the Second Quantum Revolution, and companies are eager to build and market new technology based on rapid advances in quantum physics. JILA Fellow Heather Lewandowski and her group decided to find out what qualifications these companies were looking for in the new quantum workforce. 

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PI(s):
Heather Lewandowski
Chemical Physics
The Rules of Photon Thunderdome
Published: October 05, 2020

During upconversion photoluminescence in rubrene, four triplet state ions fight it out to release a single high-energy photon. 

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PI(s):
J. Mathias Weber
Atomic & Molecular Physics
Total Ellipse of the SU(N)
Published: September 11, 2020

A strangely shaped cloud of fermions revealed a record-fast way of cooling atoms for quantum devices.

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PI(s):
Jun Ye | Ana Maria Rey
Biophysics
Grabbing Proteins by the Tail
Published: August 11, 2020

"Unraveling" cell membrane proteins could help us understand how to build better drugs and treatments for disease.

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PI(s):
Thomas Perkins
Physics Education
What to Know if You’re Teaching Physics Labs Remotely
Published: August 05, 2020

In the wake of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, instructors are planning their courses for virtual platforms—a major challenge for laboratory classes. JILA Fellow Heather Lewandowski has gathered some helpful tools for those teaching physics labs in a virtual classroom.

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PI(s):
Heather Lewandowski
Atomic & Molecular Physics | Precision Measurement
Falling Dominos and an Army of Schrödinger’s Cats
Published: July 27, 2020

Using the laser from the strontium optical atomic clock, physicists can generate multiple cat-state atoms quickly and easily.

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PI(s):
Ana Maria Rey
Laser Physics
Scientists Open New Window into the Nano World
Published: July 15, 2020

Electronics keep shrinking. As they shrink the properties of the materials that make them change too. 

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PI(s):
Margaret Murnane