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Physical Measurement Laboratory / Quantum Measurement Division

Laser Cooling and Trapping Group

Projects/Programs

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schematic diagram

Fundamental Constants in Nature

Ongoing
The Task Group on Fundamental Constants periodically publishes updated evaluations of the fundamental constants of physics and chemistry. These evaluations serve two purposes. First, they provide a self-consistent set of recommended values of the constants for all to use. Second, because they
Quantum Computations in Optical Lattices

Quantum Computation and Simulation with Neutral Atoms

Ongoing
Advances in quantum information have the potential to significantly improve sensor technology, complete computational tasks unattainable by classical means, provide understanding of complex many-body systems, and yield new insight regarding the nature of quantum physics. At NIST and around the world
chip experiment

Quantum matter from atomic gases

Ongoing
Ultracold atoms are a very different sort of system than conventional materials, composed of a few hundred to a few hundred million atoms, with densities ranging from 10 12 cm -3 to 10 15 cm -3, and at temperatures from below 1 nK to a couple uK. These atomic systems are unique in the simplicity of

Quantum Nonlinear Optics for Metrology and Networking

Completed
We have generated "twin beams" of light using four-wave mixing (4WM) that are correlated at a level better than can be displayed by classical radiators. One particularly useful feature of the 4WM technique is that the light can easily be made in multiple spatial modes. That is, images with quantum

Spinor Condensates and Ultracold Collisions

Ongoing
A Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) collapses the wavefunctions of many particles in to a single quantum state. In a spinor BEC the atoms can be in a superposition of internal quantum states. Thus, a BEC of spin-1 particles, like the F = 1 ground state of Na atoms, can be thought of as being a single

Using Quantum Information for Thermodynamics

Ongoing
We re-envision thermodynamics using the mathematical and conceptual toolkit of quantum information theory. We call this research “quantum steampunk,” after the steampunk genre of art, literature, and film that juxtaposes Victorian settings with futuristic technologies. Leveraging quantum