Research News

Atomic quantum sensors (e.g. clocks, magnetometers, electrometers, inertial sensors, etc.) are being used to solve real-world problems including global positioning, imaging of biological systems, and geodesy, with new applications continually emerging. The breadth of the atomic sensor design space is daunting, since one may utilize any combination of atomic states, lasers, rf fields, time-dependence, atomic nonlinearities, lasercooling and trapping, and Rydberg states.

Recent work uses a quantum sensor to simultaneously receive five radio-frequency (RF) signals covering 120 gigahertz (GHz) of the electromagnetic spectrum. This demonstration expands the boundaries of wireless communications, highlighting a unique capability difficult to achieve with other technologies.

Quantum particles have unique properties that make them powerful tools, but those very same properties can be the bane of researchers. Each quantum particle can inhabit a combination of multiple possibilities, called a quantum superposition, and together they can form intricate webs of connection through quantum entanglement.

In new work, researchers at JQI have combined two lines of research into a new method for generating frequency combs.

Currently, computing technologies are rapidly evolving and reshaping how we imagine the future. Quantum computing is taking its first toddling steps toward delivering practical results that promise unprecedented abilities. Meanwhile, artificial intelligence remains in public conversation as it’s used for everything from writing business emails to generating bespoke images or songs from text prompts to producing deep fakes.

The world is a cluttered, noisy place, and the ability to effectively focus is a valuable skill. Researchers at JQI have identified a new way to focus their attention and obtain useful insights into the way information associated with a configuration of interacting particles gets dispersed and effectively lost over time. Their technique focuses on a single feature that describes how various amounts of energy can be held by different configurations a quantum system. The approach provides insight into how a collection of quantum particles can evolve without the researchers having to grapple with the intricacies of the interactions that make the system change over time.

Chip-based devices known as frequency combs, which measure the frequency of light waves with unparalleled precision, have revolutionized time keeping, the detection of planets outside of our solar system and high-speed optical communication.
Now, scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and their collaborators have developed a new way of creating the combs that promises to boost their already exquisite accuracy and allow them to measure light over a range of frequencies that was previously inaccessible. The extended range will enable frequency combs to probe cells and other biological material.
The new devices, which are fabricated on a small glass chip, operate in a fundamentally different way from previous chip-based frequency combs, also known as microcombs.

Researchers at JQI and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have developed standards and calibrations for optical microscopes that allow quantum dots to be aligned with the center of a photonic component to within an error of 10 to 20 nanometers (about one-thousandth the thickness of a sheet of paper). Such alignment is critical for chip-scale devices that employ the radiation emitted by quantum dots to store and transmit quantum information.

Researchers have constructed new mathematical tools for continuous variable (CV) quantum systems, which could lead to more efficient benchmarking for quantum devices and more efficient ways of representing quantum states on classical hardware.

Researchers have constructed new mathematical tools for continuous variable (CV) quantum systems, which could lead to more efficient benchmarking for quantum devices and more efficient ways of representing quantum states on classical hardware.