Exploring the Frontiers of Physics
Research Highlights
- Breaking The Laser Stability Record Using New Crystalline Mirrors
JILA researchers, working with collaborators in Germany, demonstrated that new crystalline mirror coatings dramatically reduce atomic-level noise in optical cavities, enabling lasers with record‑breaking frequency stability. By…
Read More - Nuclear Clockwork: Experiments Highlight Reproducibility of Nuclear Transition Frequency
JILA researchers have taken a major step toward realizing next‑generation nuclear clocks by studying how thorium‑doped crystals behave over time. In new experiments published in Nature, the team tracked the stability,…
Read More - Narrowing In: Cooling Molecules with Light Like Never Before
In a study published in Physical Review X Quantum, a team led by JILA and NIST Fellow and University of Colorado Boulder physics professor Jun Ye has…
Read More - JILA Researchers Overturn 25-Year-Old Explanation of Benzene Formation in Space
JILA Fellow and University of Colorado Boulder Physics Professor Heather Lewandowski and members of her lab have shattered a 25-year-old theory about how benzene forms in the interstellar medium, revealing that the long-accepted…
Read More - JILA Collaboration Makes Cavity Quantum Electrodynamics into a Team Sport
For the past several years, an experimental research group led by JILA Fellow James Thompson and a theoretical research group led by JILA Fellow Ana Maria Rey have…
Read More - Resonant Frequencies: Playing the Edge of Light with a 3-micron Baton
A team led by JILA Fellows and CU Boulder professors Margaret Murnane and Henry Kapteyn has made a significant advance to make soft X-rays more accessible: with their research group, they have developed an ultrastable, scalable and…
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Research Highlights
- Breaking The Laser Stability Record Using New Crystalline Mirrors
JILA researchers, working with collaborators in Germany, demonstrated that new crystalline mirror coatings dramatically reduce atomic-level noise in optical cavities, enabling lasers with record‑breaking frequency stability. By…
Read More
- Nuclear Clockwork: Experiments Highlight Reproducibility of Nuclear Transition Frequency
JILA researchers have taken a major step toward realizing next‑generation nuclear clocks by studying how thorium‑doped crystals behave over time. In new experiments published in Nature, the team tracked the stability,…
Read More
- Narrowing In: Cooling Molecules with Light Like Never Before
In a study published in Physical Review X Quantum, a team led by JILA and NIST Fellow and University of Colorado Boulder physics professor Jun Ye has…
Read More
- JILA Researchers Overturn 25-Year-Old Explanation of Benzene Formation in Space
JILA Fellow and University of Colorado Boulder Physics Professor Heather Lewandowski and members of her lab have shattered a 25-year-old theory about how benzene forms in the interstellar medium, revealing that the long-accepted…
Read More
- JILA Collaboration Makes Cavity Quantum Electrodynamics into a Team Sport
For the past several years, an experimental research group led by JILA Fellow James Thompson and a theoretical research group led by JILA Fellow Ana Maria Rey have…
Read More
- Resonant Frequencies: Playing the Edge of Light with a 3-micron Baton
A team led by JILA Fellows and CU Boulder professors Margaret Murnane and Henry Kapteyn has made a significant advance to make soft X-rays more accessible: with their research group, they have developed an ultrastable, scalable and…
Read More
- Entangled Time: Pushing Atomic Clocks Beyond the Standard Quantum Limit
In a new study, researchers led by JILA and NIST Fellow Jun Ye have shown how to make atomic clocks even more precise by leveraging entanglement. This allows the atoms to “tick” more in sync, reducing the randomness that usually limits…
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- Building the quantum workforce of the future
In recent years, quantum technology companies have begun to pop up across the United States. These companies design technologies that tap into some of the unique properties of very small things like atoms and electrons. Such…
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- Tailoring Record-Breaking Laser Stability for Coordinating Precise Atomic Dances
Jun Ye's research group has developed a groundbreaking laser system with record-breaking stability, crucial for advancing quantum technologies. By combining a highly stable silicon cavity laser with a frequency comb and a secondary…
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- A Symphony of Light and Atoms
In a groundbreaking study researchers at JILA have demonstrated continuous lasing and strong atom-cavity coupling using laser-cooled strontium atoms. This innovative experiment opens new avenues for precision measurement and quantum…
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- Smoother Ticking Through Topology
In a new theoretical study, physicists at JILA and the University of Colorado Boulder have proposed a way to make the most precise clocks in the world even more robust—by weaving in the strange, protective properties of topological…
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- Thirty years of Bose-Einstein Condensates
The first Bose-Einstein Condensate (BEC) was first created by Eric Cornell, Carl Wieman, Mike Anderson, Jason Ensher, and Michael Matthews on June 5, 1995 in JILA at the University of Colorado Boulder. This new state of matter was first…
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- New quantum navigation device uses atoms to measure acceleration in 3D
In a new study, physicists at JILA and the University of Colorado Boulder have used a cloud of atoms chilled down to incredibly cold temperatures to simultaneously measure acceleration in three dimensions—a feat that many scientists…
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- The Pursuit of Perfect Timekeeping
In a recent study published in Science, by JILA and NIST Fellows and University of Colorado Boulder physics professors Jun Ye and Ana Maria Rey, interactions between atoms are explored in depth, focusing on…
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- Where Motion Meets Spin: A Quantum Leap in Simulating Magnetism
The strange behaviors of high-temperature superconductors—materials that conduct electricity without resistance above the boiling point of liquid nitrogen—and other systems with unusual magnetic properties have fascinated scientists for…
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- Combining Machine Learning with Quantum Metrology: Making a Universal Quantum Sensor
Researchers at JILA and the University of Colorado Boulder have developed an innovative platform that combines machine learning with atom interferometry to create a universal quantum sensor. This system uses programmable atom-optic "…
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- Quantum Teleportation Gets an Ionic 2D Upgrade
Researchers at JILA, led by Ana Maria Rey, developed a new protocol for teleporting quantum information in collective spin states of ions within a two-dimensional crystal. This involves entangling ion groups through phonon modes and…
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- Molecular Lock and Key: Decoding the Secrets of Ion Binding
Understanding how molecules interact with ions is a cornerstone of chemistry, with applications from pollution detection and cleanup to drug delivery. In a series of new studies led by JILA Fellow and University of Colorado Boulder…
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![The many different molecules trying to fill the binding site of octamethyl calix[4]pyrrole (omC4P)](/sites/default/files/styles/media_thumbnail_large/public/images/2025-04/weber_omc4p_thumbnail.jpg?h=fbf7a813&itok=e9ho_B28)
- How JILA Contributed to NASA’s Recent SUDA Project
With the recent launch of NASA's Europa Clipper, science takes a bold step closer to answering one of its most profound questions: could the building blocks for life exist…
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- Dialing in the Temperature Needed for Precise Nuclear Timekeeping
For decades, atomic clocks have been the pinnacle of precision timekeeping, enabling GPS navigation, cutting-edge physics research, and tests of fundamental theories. But researchers at JILA, led by JILA and NIST Fellow and University…
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- Using Frequency Combs to Detect Molecules in Your Breath
A team of physicists at the University of Colorado Boulder and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has developed a groundbreaking laser-based…
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- Sneaky Clocks: Uncovering Einstein’s Relativity in an Interacting Atomic Playground
For over a century, physicists have grappled with one of the most profound questions in science: How do the rules of quantum mechanics, which govern the smallest particles, fit with the laws of general relativity, which describe the…
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- Trying to Solve a Key Black Hole Mystery: Simulating Magnetic Flows Around Black Holes
Black holes have been fascinating subjects of study, not just because they are cosmic vacuum cleaners, but also as engines of immense power capable of extracting and redistributing energy on a staggering scale. These dark giants are…
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- Quantum Billiard Balls: Digging Deeper into Light-Assisted Atomic Collisions
When atoms collide, their exact structure—for example, the number of electrons they have or even the quantum spin of their nuclei—has a lot to say about how they bounce off each other. This is especially true for atoms cooled to near-…
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- Tracking Magnetic Field Directions Using Tiny Atomic Compasses
Researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder have developed a novel method to measure magnetic field orientations using atoms as minuscule compasses. The research, a collaboration between JILA Fellow and CU Boulder physics…
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- Making a Leap by Using “Another State to Entangle”
Interactions between atoms and light rule the behavior of our physical world, but, at the same time, can be extremely complex. Understanding and harnessing them is one of the major challenges for the development of quantum technologies…
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- Diamonds are Forever—But Not in Nanodevices
Ultrawide-bandgap semiconductors—such as diamond—are promising for next-generation electronics due to a larger energy gap between the valence and conduction bands, allowing them to handle higher voltages, operate at higher frequencies,…
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- Building a Safer and More Affordable Nuclear Clock
In the quest for ultra-precise timekeeping, scientists have turned to nuclear clocks. Unlike optical atomic clocks—which rely on electronic transitions—nuclear clocks utilize the energy transitions in the atom’s nucleus, which are less…
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- No Cavity, No Party: Free-Space Atoms Give Superradiant Transition a Pass
Isolated atoms in free space radiate energy at their own individual pace. However, atoms in an optical cavity interact with the photons bouncing back and forth from the cavity mirrors, and by doing so, they coordinate their photon…
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- Creating a Global Map of Different Physics Laboratory Classes
Physics lab courses are vital to science education, providing hands-on experience and technical skills that lectures can’t offer. Yet, it’s challenging for those in Physics Education Research (PER) to compare course to course,…
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