JILA PFC Homepage | JILA Physics Frontier Center

A rendering of a ytterbium qubit held within a set of optical tweezers

Tweezing a New Kind of Qubit

JILA has a long history in quantum research, advancing the state of the art in the field as its Fellows study various quantum effects. One of these Fellowsis Adam Kaufman. Kaufman and his laboratory team work on…

Selected atoms (green) within doubly occupied sites of a 2D "Fermi Sea" are excited by a polarized laser pulse. Pauli blocking prevents decay of the excited atoms (red) as they can only decay into unoccupied sites (black).

An Atomic Game of Duck, Duck, Goose

Physics has always been a science of rules. In many situations, these rules lead to clear and simple theoretical predictions which, nevertheless, are hard to observe in actual experimental settings where other…

Comparison of 2-level and 6-level atom decay paths. For 6-level systems, each state can potentially decay into several states and some of them might be dark due to destructive interference.

Running in a Quantum Corn Maze and Getting Stuck in the Dark

Light is emitted when an atom decays from an excited state to a lower energy ground state, with the emitted photon carrying away the energy. The spontaneous emission of light is a fundamental process that originates…

A depiction showing the interaction between ultra cold compressed 2D gas layers of KRb molecules

Electrifying Molecular Interactions

Worldwide, many researchers are interested in controlling atomic and molecular interactions. This includes JILA and NIST fellows Jun Ye and Ana Maria Rey, both of whom have spent years researching interacting…

An artistic depiction of the hot band absorption process in the LDS798 molecule.

The Prime Suspect: Hot Band Absorption

The hunt was afoot within the laboratory of JILA and NIST Fellow Ralph Jimenez as his team continued to unravel the mystery of entangled two-photon absorption. Entangled photons are pairs of light particles whose…

A Necklace Made of Doughnuts

Physicists develop some of the most cutting-edge technologies, including new types of lasers, microscopes, and telescopes. Using lasers, physicists can learn more about quantum interactions in materials and molecules…

Major Activities

Latest News

Connor Thomas, an undergraduate researcher in JILA and NIST Fellow Ralph Jimenez's lab, discusses his time in JILA

May 10, 2022 | Humans of JILA-Connor Thomas

For some physics and math undergraduates, JILA has become a place to learn cutting-edge research while belonging to a community. That's what undergraduate Connor Thomas experienced. Though Thomas is graduating with a bachelor's in biochemistry and transitioning to a graduate program at MIT, he's been grateful for his time at JILA. "JILA has been a pretty fantastic community for me," Thomas said. "In particular, my lab has been great. They were really constant through COVID. I am definitely going to miss all of that."

Recent Publications

Ytterbium Nuclear-Spin Qubits in an Optical Tweezer Array

A. Jenkins, Lis, J., Senoo, A., McGrew, W. F., and Kaufman, A. M., Phys. Rev. X 12, 021027 (2022).

Investigators: Adam Kaufman

Entanglement Thresholds of Doubly Parametric Quantum Transducers

C. Rau, Kyle, A., Kwiatkowski, A., Shojaee, E., Teufel, J., Lehnert, K. W., and Dennis, T., Phys. Rev. Applied 17, 044057 (2022).

Investigators: Konrad Lehnert

Disentangling Pauli Blocking of Atomic Decay from Cooperative Radiation and Atomic Motion in a 2D Fermi Gas

T. Bilitewski, Piñeiro Orioli, A., Sanner, C., Sonderhouse, L., Hutson, R. B., Yan, L., Milner, W. R., Ye, J., and Rey, A. M., Physical Review Letters 128, 093001 (2022).

Investigators: Jun Ye | Ana Maria Rey

Longitudinally Modulated Dynamo Action in Simulated M-dwarf Stars

C. Bice and Toomre, J., The Astrophysical Journal 928, 51 (2022).

Investigators: Juri Toomre

Emergent dark states from superradiant dynamics in multilevel atoms in a cavity

A. Piñeiro Orioli, Thompson, J. S., and Rey, A. M., Phys. Rev. X 12, 011054 (2022).

Investigators: James Thompson | Ana Maria Rey

Temperature-Dependent Fluorescence of mPlum Fluorescent Protein from 295 to 20 K

T. Lyu, Sohn, S., Jimenez, R., and Joo, T., The Journal Of Physical Chemistry B (2022).

Investigators: Ralph Jimenez

About JILA PFC

The JILA Physics Frontier Center (JILA PFC) brings together 20 investigators in collaboration to share goals, ideas, expertise and technology in their aim to realize precise measurement, innovative manipulation, and harvesting ever-more intriguing meaning, all in the world of complex quantum systems.

A theme that runs through all of JILA PFC research is the importance of interactions in understanding and exploiting the nature of quantum many-particle systems. The JILA PFC seeks to foment a new quantum revolution, in which matter with built-in quantum correlation will be understood, controlled, and harnessed. In this process, we will gain new insights into the emergence of universal rules that govern complex materials. At the same time, the JILA PFC envisions inventing novel quantum-measurement approaches for exploring unknown corners of our physical world.

The JILA PFC is housed within the JILA institute, which is a joint institute of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder).