Colloquium 2008-03-27

Speaker:

Jun Ye

JILA, NIST, and University of Colorado

Title:

Quantum Metrology with Precision Light and Ultracold Atoms

Host:

Jason Jones

Abstract:

Improvements in spectroscopic resolution have been the driving force behind many scientific and technological breakthroughs over the past century, including the invention of the laser and the realization of ultracold atoms. State-of-the-art lasers can now maintain phase coherence over one second, that is, 10¹⁵ optical waves can pass by without losing track of a particular cycle. The recent development of optical frequency combs permits this unprecedented optical phase coherence to be established across the entire visible and infrared parts of the electromagnetic spectrum, leading to direct visualization and measurement of light ripples. A new generation of light-based atomic clocks has been developed, with ultracold Sr atoms confined in an optical lattice offering unprecedented coherence times for light-matter interactions. The uncertainty of this new clock has reached 1 x 10^-16, a factor of 3 below the current best Cs primary standard. These developments will have impact to a wide range of scientific problems such as the possible time-variation of fundamental constants and quantum simulations based on cold atoms, as well as to a variety of technological applications.  

Bio:

Jun Ye received his Ph.D. degree from the University of Colorado, Boulder, in 1997. He was a R.A. Millikan Postdoctoral Fellow at the California Institute of Technology from 1997-1999.  He has been a Fellow of JILA, the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the University of Colorado, since 2001.  He is a Fellow of NIST, a Fellow of the American Physical Society, and a Fellow of the Optical Society of America. His research interests include precision measurement, ultracold atoms and molecules, optical frequency metrology, and ultrafast science and quantum control. He has co-authored over 190 technical papers and has delivered over 200 invited talks. Awards and honors include I. I. Rabi Prize from the American Physical Society, Carl Zeiss Research Award, William F. Meggers Award and Adolph Lomb Medal from the Optical Society of America, Arthur S. Flemming Award, Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, U.S. Commerce Department group Gold Medal, Friedrich Wilhem Bessel Award from Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, and Samuel Wesley Stratton Award from NIST.  The research group web page is http://jilawww.colorado.edu/YeLabs/.