News & Research Highlights

Atomic & Molecular Physics
Thinh Bui wins Longuet-Higgins Early Career Researcher Prize
Published:

Thinh Bui, a postdoctoral researcher in Jun Ye's group, won an early career prize from the journal Molecular Physics.

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Investigators: Jun Ye
Other
JILA Fellow Ana Maria Rey named finalist for Blavatnik Award for Young Scientists
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JILA Fellow Ana Maria Rey has been named a finalist for the prestigious Blavatnik Award for Young Scientists.

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Investigators: Ana Maria Rey
Quantum Information Science & Technology
Tying Quantum Knots with an Optical Clock
Published:

Getting a cluster state of perfectly entangled atoms for quantum computing may be easier using a tool in JILA's laboratory.

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Related Publications: Cluster State Generation with Spin-Orbit Coupled Fermionic Atoms in Optical LatticesInvestigators: Ana Maria Rey
JILA PFC News
JILA Fellow Murray Holland wins Marinus Smith Award
Published:

JILA Fellow Murray Holland was recognized for his outstanding teaching skills this spring.

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Investigators: Murray Holland
Atomic & Molecular Physics | Precision Measurement
Thomas Perkins wins Gears of Government Award
Published:

Dr. Thomas Perkins won a Gears of Government Award for his work in atomic force microscopy. 

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Investigators: Thomas Perkins
Other
JILA's Mike Bennett wins Anne K. Heinz Staff Award for Excellence in Outreach and Engagement
Published:

Hard work pays off. Mike Bennett was honored by CU for expanding JILA's outreach efforts through the Partnerships for Informal Science Education in the Community. 

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Atomic & Molecular Physics | Laser Physics | Other
Chris Greene, former JILA Fellow, named to National Academy of Sciences
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Chris Greene, professor of physics and astronomy at Purdue University and former JILA Fellow, was named to the National Academy of Sciences.

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Quantum Information Science & Technology
Chaos reigns in a quantum ion magnet
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JILA researchers have proposed an experiment that would allow them to study rapid scrambling of quantum information, similar to what happens at the event horizon of a black hole. 

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Investigators: Ana Maria Rey
Other
JILA’s PISEC High School Poster Symposium brings real science to students
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High school students got a chance to show off their research at JILA.

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Investigators: Eric Cornell
Atomic & Molecular Physics
Marit Fiechter wins SPIN prize for best undergraduate physics thesis
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Marit Fiechter, an undergraduate at the University of Groningen and former JILA student, won the SPIN prize for best undergraduate thesis project.

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Investigators: Jun Ye
Atomic & Molecular Physics
Optical tweezers achieve new feats of capturing atoms
Published:

Trapping single atoms is a bit like herding cats, which makes researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder expert feline wranglers. In a new study, a team led by physicist Cindy Regal showed that it could load groups of individual atoms into large grids with an efficiency unmatched by existing methods.  

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Investigators: Cindy Regal
Laser Physics
The Snowflake of Insulators
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By using ultrafast lasers to measure the temperature of electrons, JILA researchers have discovered a never-before-seen state in an otherwise standard semiconductor. This research is the most recent demonstration of a new technique, called ultrafast electron calorimetry, which uses light to manipulate well-known materials in new ways.

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Related Publications: Ultrafast electron calorimetry uncovers a new long-lived metastable state in 1T-TaSe2 mediated by mode-selective electron-phonon couplingInvestigators: Margaret Murnane | Henry Kapteyn
Biophysics
Pulling apart HIV
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JILA researchers have demonstrated a much easier, faster and more precise way to understand the structure and function of the HIV RNA molecule, especially the HIV RNA hairpin. Furthermore, the techniques developed for this research promise to allow a wider range of users to study similar biological molecules, as they are built upon commercially available and user-friendly atomic force microscopes, or AFMs.

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Related Publications: High-precision single-molecule characterization of the folding of an HIV RNA hairpin by atomic force microscopyInvestigators: Thomas Perkins
Atomic & Molecular Physics
Buckyballs Play by Quantum Rules
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When the Ye group measured the total quantum state of buckyballs, we learned that this large molecule can play by full quantum rules. Specifically, this measurement resolved the rotational states of the buckyball, making it the largest and most complex molecule to be understood at this level.

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Related Publications: Rovibrational quantum state resolution of the C60 fullereneInvestigators: Jun Ye
Atomic & Molecular Physics
The Strontium Optical Tweezer
Published:

JILA researchers have, for the first time, trapped a single alkaline-earth atom and cooled it to its ground state. To trap this atom, researchers used an optical tweezer, which is a laser focused to a pinpoint that can hold, move and manipulate atoms. The full motional and electronic control wielded by this tool enables microscopically precise studies of the limiting factors in many of today’s forefront physics experiments, especially quantum information science and metrology. 

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Related Publications: Microscopic Control and Detection of Ultracold Strontium in Optical-Tweezer ArraysInvestigators: Adam Kaufman
Atomic & Molecular Physics
The First Quantum Degenerate Polar Molecules
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Understanding chemistry requires understanding both molecules and quantum physics. The former defines the start and end of chemical reactions, the latter dictates the dynamics in between. JILA researchers now have a better understanding of both.

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Related Publications: Microscopic Control and Detection of Ultracold Strontium in Optical-Tweezer ArraysInvestigators: Jun Ye
Atomic & Molecular Physics
Jun Ye and Deborah Jin named 2018 Highly Cited Researchers
Published:

JILA Fellows Jun Ye and Deborah Jin (1968 to 2016) have been named Highly Cited Researchers for 2018 by Clarivate Analytics.The list of Highly Cited Researchers, published annually since 2014, recognizes scientists across the world who have demonstrated significant influence through publication of multiple highly cited papers during the last decade.

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Investigators: Deborah Jin | Jun Ye
Atomic & Molecular Physics
Taming Chemistry at the Quantum Level
Published:

In the vast stretches between solar systems, heat does not flow and sound does not exist. Action seems to stop, but only if you don’t look long enough. Violent and chaotic actions occur in the long stretches of outer space. These chemical reactions between radicals and ions are the same reactions underlying the burn of a flame and floating the ozone above our planet. But they’re easy to miss in outer space because they’re very rare.

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Related Publications: Quantum-state-controlled reactions between molecular radicals and ionsInvestigators: Heather Lewandowski
Biophysics | Quantum Information Science & Technology
Perkins and Lehnert Awarded Department of Commerce Medals
Published:

JILA Fellows Dr. Tom Perkins and Dr. Konrad Lehnert both received medals from the Department of Commerce last night at the Ronald Reagan Amphitheater in Washington, D.C. Dr. Perkins received the Gold Medal, which is the highest honorary award given by the United States Department of Commerce, or DOC. Perkins was recognized for creating the world’s best atomic force microscope tailored to biological measurements. This device can “grab” onto biological molecules, such as proteins, and measure the tiny forces involved in their folding and unfolding.

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Investigators: Thomas Perkins | Konrad Lehnert
Quantum Information Science & Technology
Quiet Drumming: Reducing Noise for the Quantum Internet
Published:

Quantum computers are set to revolutionize society. With their expansive power and speed, quantum computers could reduce today’s impossibly complex problems, like artificial intelligence and weather forecasts, to mere algorithms. But as revolutionary as the quantum computer will be, its promises will be stifled without the right connections. Peter Burns, a JILA graduate student in the Lehnert/Regal lab, likens this stifle to a world without Wi-Fi.  

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Related Publications: Rovibrational quantum state resolution of the C60 fullereneInvestigators: Cindy Regal | Graeme Smith | Konrad Lehnert