Jun Ye

Among the brilliantly technical and creative minds JILA is home to, postdoctoral researcher Jake Higgins applies the best of both worlds to their work in the group of JILA and NIST Fellow and University of Colorado Boulder physics professor Jun Ye. Leveraging their multi-disciplinary background, Higgins is advancing nuclear clock technology.

JILA and NIST Fellows Ana Maria Rey, Jun Ye, and Adam Kaufman have been highlighted in a recent Financial Times article, "The Mind-Bending New Science of Measuring Time," by Oliver Roeder. The piece delves into the forefront of precision timekeeping and its implications for understanding fundamental physics.

JILA and NIST Fellow Jun Ye and his team's revolutionary work on nuclear clock technology was recently highlighted in a feature by Scientific American. The article delves into the creation of the world’s first nuclear clock, developed in Boulder, Colorado, which builds upon decades of research into precision timekeeping. Nuclear clocks, which rely on the ticking of atomic nuclei rather than atomic electrons, promise to surpass the precision and accuracy of current atomic clocks, which have set the standard for international timekeeping for decades.

In a recent CNN article, groundbreaking research led by JILA and NIST Fellow Jun Ye and his team was highlighted for its remarkable advancements in nuclear clock technology. The article emphasized how their work builds upon the pioneering efforts of scientists who embedded thorium-229 into crystals in 2023, allowing for enhanced signal tracking by suppressing noise from nuclear decay.

Jun Ye, a JILA and NIST Fellow and CU Boulder Professor of Physics, and his team have made headlines in Quanta Magazine for their groundbreaking work on nuclear timekeeping. Graduate student Chuankun Zhang led the team in observing a thorium-229 nuclear transition—an elusive process that could redefine how we measure time.

In the latest episode of the "Humans of JILA" podcast, we take an in-depth look at the CUbit Quantum Initiative, an organization at the University of Colorado Boulder. CUbit is at the forefront of quantum research, education, and workforce development, serving as a vital bridge between academia, industry, and government. 

In a recent highlight in AZO Optics, a premier online publication dedicated to the optics and photonics community, JILA's groundbreaking advancements in laser technology have been brought into the limelight. The feature, which serves as a testament to JILA's pioneering work in the field of quantum science and precision measurement, showcases the institute's continuous efforts to push the boundaries of what's possible with laser technology.