Learn how we create some of the most entangled states in the world and how we have realized the first entangled matterwave interferometer that operates with a phase resolution below the Standard Quantum Limit
About the Thompson Group
Research Areas
Rb: Entanglement & Matterwaves
Sr: Continuous Superradiant Laser
Learn how we are working to realize an ultra-stable continuous superradiant laser for probing the universe more precisely.
Sr: Quantum Many-body Physics
Learn about our quantum many-body simulator realized by cavity-mediated interactions.
Rb: Small Cavities Experiment
Learn how we are working to make hot atoms and light cooperate.
Stories About Our Research
To Measure or Not to Measure, but Dynamically Evolve—That is the Question
In the world of quantum technology, measuring with extreme accuracy is key. Despite impressive developments, state-of-the-art matter-wave interferometers and clocks still operate with collections of independent atoms, and the…
Read MoreTwisting and Binding Matter Waves with Photons in a Cavity
Precisely measuring the energy states of individual atoms has been a historical challenge for physicists due to atomic recoil. When an atom interacts with a photon, the atom “recoils” in the opposite direction, making it difficult to…
Read MoreB-C-S—Easy as I, II, III: Unveiling Dynamic Superconductivity
In physics, scientists have been fascinated by the mysterious behavior of superconductors—materials that can conduct electricity with zero resistance when cooled to extremely low temperatures. Within these superconducting systems,…
Read More
The Tale of Two Clocks: Advancing the Precision of Timekeeping
Historically, JILA (a joint institute established by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the University of Colorado Boulder) has been a world leader in precision timekeeping using optical atomic clocks. These…
Read MoreEntangled Pairs Get Sensitive Very Fast
The best clock in the world has no hands, no pendulum, no face or digital display. It is made of ultra-cold atoms trapped by light. This atomic clock is so precise that, had it begun ticking when Earth formed billions of years ago…
Read MoreAn Entangled Matter-wave Interferometer: Now with Double the Spookiness!
JILA and NIST Fellow James K. Thompson’s team of researchers have for the first time successfully combined two of the “spookiest” features of quantum mechanics to make a better quantum sensor: entanglement between atoms and…
Read More
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 from the…
Read MoreA Magic Recipe for a Quantum Interferometer
Gravimetry, or the measurement of the strength of a gravitational field (or gravitational acceleration), has been of great interest to physicists since the 1600s. One of the most precise ways to measure gravitational acceleration is to…
Read MoreBCS: Building a Cavity Superconductor
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…
Read More
Phases on the Move: A Quantum Game of Catch
The world is out-of-equilibrium, and JILA scientists are trying to learn what rules govern the dynamic systems that make our universe so complex and beautiful, from black holes to our living bodies.
Read MoreTwisting Atoms to Push Quantum Limits
The chaos within a black hole scrambles information. Gravity tugs on time in tiny, discrete steps. A phantom-like presence pervades our universe, yet evades detection. These intangible phenomena may seem like mere conjectures of science…
Read MoreA Little Less Spontaneous
A large fraction of JILA research relies on laser cooling of atoms, ions and molecules for applications as diverse as world-leading atomic clocks, human-controlled chemistry, quantum information, new forms of ultracold matter and the…
Read More
Lassoing Colors with Atomic Cowpokes
Getting lasers to have a precise single frequency (color) can be trickier than herding cats. So it’s no small accomplishment that the Thompson group has figured out how to use magnetic fields to create atomic cowpokes to wrangle a…
Read MoreThe Quantum Identity Crisis
Dynamical phase transitions in the quantum world are wildly noisy and chaotic. They don’t look anything like the phase transitions we observe in our everyday world. In Colorado, we see phase transitions caused by temperature changes all…
Read MoreQuantum Entanglement
The spooky quantum property of entanglement is set to become a powerful tool in precision measurement, thanks to researchers in the Thompson group. Entanglement means that the quantum states of something physical—two atoms, two…
Read More
The Heart of Darkness
When the Thompson group first demonstrated its innovative “superradiant” laser the team noticed that sometimes the amount of light emitted by the laser would…
Read MoreThe Entanglement Tango
Most scientists think it is really hard to correlate, or entangle, the quantum spin states of many particles in an ultracold gas of fermions. Fermions are particles like electrons (and some atoms and molecules) whose quantum spin states…
Read MoreThe Laser with Perfect Pitch
The Thompson group, with theory help from the Holland group, recently demonstrated a superradiant laser that escapes the “echo chamber” problem that limits the best lasers. To understand this problem, imagine an opera singer practicing…
Read More
Sayonara Demolition Man
The secret for reducing quantum noise in a precision measurement of spins in a collection of a million atoms is simple: Pre-measure the quantum noise, then subtract it out at the end of the precision measurement. The catch is not to do…
Read More
Research Highlights
To Measure or Not to Measure, but Dynamically Evolve—That is the Question
In the world of quantum technology, measuring with extreme accuracy is key. Despite impressive developments, state-of-the-art matter-wave interferometers and clocks still operate with collections of independent atoms, and the…
Read More
Twisting and Binding Matter Waves with Photons in a Cavity
Precisely measuring the energy states of individual atoms has been a historical challenge for physicists due to atomic recoil. When an atom interacts with a photon, the atom “recoils” in the opposite direction, making it difficult to…
Read More
B-C-S—Easy as I, II, III: Unveiling Dynamic Superconductivity
In physics, scientists have been fascinated by the mysterious behavior of superconductors—materials that can conduct electricity with zero resistance when cooled to extremely low temperatures. Within these superconducting systems,…
Read More
The Tale of Two Clocks: Advancing the Precision of Timekeeping
Historically, JILA (a joint institute established by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the University of Colorado Boulder) has been a world leader in precision timekeeping using optical atomic clocks. These…
Read More
Entangled Pairs Get Sensitive Very Fast
The best clock in the world has no hands, no pendulum, no face or digital display. It is made of ultra-cold atoms trapped by light. This atomic clock is so precise that, had it begun ticking when Earth formed billions of years ago…
Read More
An Entangled Matter-wave Interferometer: Now with Double the Spookiness!
JILA and NIST Fellow James K. Thompson’s team of researchers have for the first time successfully combined two of the “spookiest” features of quantum mechanics to make a better quantum sensor: entanglement between atoms and…
Read More
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 from the…
Read More
A Magic Recipe for a Quantum Interferometer
Gravimetry, or the measurement of the strength of a gravitational field (or gravitational acceleration), has been of great interest to physicists since the 1600s. One of the most precise ways to measure gravitational acceleration is to…
Read More
BCS: Building a Cavity Superconductor
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…
Read More
Phases on the Move: A Quantum Game of Catch
The world is out-of-equilibrium, and JILA scientists are trying to learn what rules govern the dynamic systems that make our universe so complex and beautiful, from black holes to our living bodies.
Read More
Twisting Atoms to Push Quantum Limits
The chaos within a black hole scrambles information. Gravity tugs on time in tiny, discrete steps. A phantom-like presence pervades our universe, yet evades detection. These intangible phenomena may seem like mere conjectures of science…
Read More
A Little Less Spontaneous
A large fraction of JILA research relies on laser cooling of atoms, ions and molecules for applications as diverse as world-leading atomic clocks, human-controlled chemistry, quantum information, new forms of ultracold matter and the…
Read More
Lassoing Colors with Atomic Cowpokes
Getting lasers to have a precise single frequency (color) can be trickier than herding cats. So it’s no small accomplishment that the Thompson group has figured out how to use magnetic fields to create atomic cowpokes to wrangle a…
Read More
The Quantum Identity Crisis
Dynamical phase transitions in the quantum world are wildly noisy and chaotic. They don’t look anything like the phase transitions we observe in our everyday world. In Colorado, we see phase transitions caused by temperature changes all…
Read More
Quantum Entanglement
The spooky quantum property of entanglement is set to become a powerful tool in precision measurement, thanks to researchers in the Thompson group. Entanglement means that the quantum states of something physical—two atoms, two…
Read More
The Heart of Darkness
When the Thompson group first demonstrated its innovative “superradiant” laser the team noticed that sometimes the amount of light emitted by the laser would…
Read More
The Entanglement Tango
Most scientists think it is really hard to correlate, or entangle, the quantum spin states of many particles in an ultracold gas of fermions. Fermions are particles like electrons (and some atoms and molecules) whose quantum spin states…
Read More
The Laser with Perfect Pitch
The Thompson group, with theory help from the Holland group, recently demonstrated a superradiant laser that escapes the “echo chamber” problem that limits the best lasers. To understand this problem, imagine an opera singer practicing…
Read More
Sayonara Demolition Man
The secret for reducing quantum noise in a precision measurement of spins in a collection of a million atoms is simple: Pre-measure the quantum noise, then subtract it out at the end of the precision measurement. The catch is not to do…
Read More
In the Spotlight
: JILA Alumnus Dr. Matthew Norcia is Awarded the IUPAP Early Career Scientist Prize in Atomic, Molecular And Optical Physics 2024
Read More
Dr. Matthew Norcia, a member of JILA’s extensive alumni network, has been awarded the prestigious 2024 International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP) Early Career Scientist Prize in Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics. The IUPAP Early Career Scientist Prize honors early career physicists for their exceptional contributions within specific subfields, offering recognition through a certificate, medal, and monetary award.
Read More
: JILA and the University of Colorado Boulder Lead Pioneering Quantum Gravity Research with Heising-Simons Foundation Grant
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The Heising-Simons Foundation's Science program has announced a generous grant of $3 million over three years, aimed at bolstering theoretical and experimental research efforts to bridge the realms of Atomic, Molecular, and Optical (AMO) physics with quantum gravity theories. Among the recipients, a notable grant was awarded to a multi-investigator collaboration spearheaded by the University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder) and JILA, a joint institute of CU Boulder and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).
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: Tyler McMaken, Ran Brynn Reiff, and Julia Cline all win 2020 CU Physics awards
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JILA graduate students Tyler McMaken, Ran Brynn Reiff, and Julia Cline all win the 2020 CU Physics Department TA awards
Read More
: New $115 Million Quantum Systems Accelerator to Pioneer Quantum Technologies for Discovery Science
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A new national quantum research center draws on JILA Fellows' and their expertise to make the United States an international leader in quantum technology.
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JILA Address
We are located at JILA: A joint institute of NIST and the University of Colorado Boulder.
Map | JILA Phone: 303-492-7789 | Address: 440 UCB, Boulder, CO 80309
The Physics Frontiers Centers (PFC) program supports university-based centers and institutes where the collective efforts of a larger group of individuals can enable transformational advances in the most promising research areas. The program is designed to foster major breakthroughs at the intellectual frontiers of physics by providing needed resources such as combinations of talents, skills, disciplines, and/or specialized infrastructure, not usually available to individual investigators or small groups, in an environment in which the collective efforts of the larger group can be shown to be seminal to promoting significant progress in the science and the education of students. PFCs also include creative, substantive activities aimed at enhancing education, broadening participation of traditionally underrepresented groups, and outreach to the scientific community and general public.