JILA PFC Homepage

A thorium-doped calcium fluoride crystal's temperature is continually monitored while a VUV frequency comb is used to directly resolve individual quantum states of the nuclear transition.
Dialing in the Temperature Needed for Precise Nuclear Timekeeping

For decades, atomic clocks have been the pinnacle of precision timekeeping, enabling GPS navigation, cutting-edge physics research, and tests of fundamental theories. But researchers at JILA, led by JILA and NIST…

An artist's depiction of the frequency comb's molecular detection in vapor
Using Frequency Combs to Detect Molecules in Your Breath

​A team of physicists at the University of Colorado Boulder and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has developed a…

An optical lattice clock)embedded in the curved spacetime formed by the earth’s gravity. Dynamical interplay between photon-mediated interactions and gravitational redshift can lead to entanglement generation and frequency synchronization dynamics.
Sneaky Clocks: Uncovering Einstein’s Relativity in an Interacting Atomic Playground

For over a century, physicists have grappled with one of the most profound questions in science: How do the rules of quantum mechanics, which govern the smallest particles, fit with the laws of general relativity,…

Exploiting the hyperfine structure in repulsive light-assisted collisions (LAC) on a 87-Rubidium atom pair in an optical tweezer. 
Quantum Billiard Balls: Digging Deeper into Light-Assisted Atomic Collisions

When atoms collide, their exact structure—for example, the number of electrons they have or even the quantum spin of their nuclei—has a lot to say about how they bounce off each other. This is especially true for…

Cells with around 100 billion rubidium atoms are exposed to microwave signals, which help to determine the atoms' magnetic fields
Tracking Magnetic Field Directions Using Tiny Atomic Compasses

Researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder have developed a novel method to measure magnetic field orientations using atoms as minuscule compasses. The research, a collaboration between JILA Fellow and CU…

Schematic of the multi-level atomic array structure used in this study
Making a Leap by Using “Another State to Entangle”

Interactions between atoms and light rule the behavior of our physical world, but, at the same time, can be extremely complex. Understanding and harnessing them is one of the major challenges for the development of…

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Major Activities

JILA PFC Partnerships

FIU logo.FIU-JILA Partnership for Research and Education in Physics: https://fiujilaprep.fiu.edu/Student-faculty exchange diagram.
 

An NSF-sponsored partnership between FIU Physics and JILA Physics Frontier Center (PFC) for research excellence and diversity in Atomic, Molecular, and Optical (AMO) Physics. Click diagram for a larger image.

Latest News

JILA and CU Boulder Physics alum Dr. Olivia Krohn has been awarded the Thesis Prize at the 2025 APS Global Summit
| JILA and University of Colorado Boulder Physics Alum Dr. Olivia Krohn is Awarded the 2025 APS Global Summit Thesis Prize

Dr. Olivia Krohn, a former JILA graduate student and now a postdoctoral researcher at Sandia National Laboratories, has been awarded the prestigious Justin Jankunas dissertation award, given out by the American Physical Society (APS) division of chemical physics at the APS Global Summit conference. This award recognizes exceptional doctoral research that advances the frontiers of physics. Krohn’s award highlights her dissertation research, which bridges the legacy of JILA’s origins in astrophysics with its current role as a global leader in atomic, molecular, and optical (AMO) physics.

  

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Recent Publications

Many-Body Gap Protection against Motional Dephasing of an Optical Clock Transition
1 Z.. Niu, V.. Schäfer, H.. Zhang, C.. Wagner, N.. Taylor, D.. Young, E.. Song, A.. Chu, A.M. Rey, and J.K. Thompson, Phys. Rev. Lett. 134, (2025).
Investigators: Ana Maria Rey
Emergent interaction-induced topology in Bose-Hubbard ladders
1 D.. Wellnitz, G.. inguez-Castro, T.. Bilitewski, M.. Aidelsburger, A.M. Rey, and L.. Santos, Phys. Rev. Res. 7, (2025).
Investigators: Ana Maria Rey
Termination of bottom-up interstellar aromatic ring formation at C6H5+
1 G.S. Kocheril, C.. Zagorec-Marks, and H.J. Lewandowski, Nature Astronomy (2025).
Investigators: Heather Lewandowski
Temperature sensitivity of a Thorium-229 solid-state nuclear clock
1 J.S. Higgins, T.. Ooi, J.. Doyle, C.. Zhang, J.. Ye, K.. Beeks, T.. Sikorsky, and T.. Schumm, Physical Review Letters 134, (2025).
Investigators: Jun Ye
Exploring the Dynamical Interplay between Mass-Energy Equivalence, Interactions, and Entanglement in an Optical Lattice Clock
1 A.. Chu, V.. inez-Lahuerta, M.. Miklos, K.. Kim, P.. Zoller, K.. Hammerer, J.. Ye, and A.M.. Rey, Physical Review Letters 134, (2025).
Investigators: Jun Ye | Ana Maria Rey
Modulated ringdown comb interferometry for sensing of highly complex gases
1 Q.. Liang, A.. Bisht, A.. Scheck, P.. Schunemann, and J.. Ye, Nature 638, (2025).
Investigators: Jun Ye

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