About the Holland Group

The Holland theory group's research is on properties of quantum gases with a focus on transport in optical lattices and on strongly interacting superfluids. The group is also working on superradiant cavity QED with group-II elements to develop a millihertz linewidth laser that would have a coherence length stretching from the earth to the sun. In addition, the group collaborates with experimentalists at JILA to develop optomechanical systems for transducing signals between optical and microwave frequencies.

Research Areas

Stories About Our Research

  • Model of laser system

    Laser Cavities and the Quest for the Holy Grail

    Atomic clocks have been heavily studied by physicists for decades. The way these clocks work is by having atoms, such as rubidium or cesium, that are "ticking" (that is, oscillating) between two quantum states. As such, atomic clocks…
    Read More

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    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…
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    The Great Escape

    The Kapteyn/Murnane group has measured how long it takes an electron born into an excited state inside a piece of nickel to escape from its birthplace. The electron’s escape is related to the structure of the metal. The escape is the…
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    Talking Atoms & Collective Laser Supercooling

    Move over, single-atom laser cooling! The Holland theory group has just come up with a stunning idea for a new kind of laser cooling for use with ensembles of atoms that all “talk” to each other. In other words, the theory looks at…
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    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…
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    Dealing with Loss

    There’s exciting news from JILA’s ultracold molecule collaboration. The Jin, Ye, Holland, and Rey groups have come up with new theory (verified by experiment) that explains the suppression of chemical reactions between potassium-…
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    Quantum Legoland

    The quantum world is not quite as mysterious as we thought it was. It turns out that there are highways into understanding this strange universe. And, graduate students Minghui Xu and David Tieri with Fellow Murray Holland have just…
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    A Quantum Leap for Precision Lasers

    To be the best they can be, optical atomic clocks need better clock lasers — lasers that remain phase coherent a hundred times longer than the very best conventional lasers. For instance, light from the clock laser in Fellow Jun Ye’s…
    Read More

Research Highlights

  • Model of laser system

    Laser Cavities and the Quest for the Holy Grail

    Atomic clocks have been heavily studied by physicists for decades. The way these clocks work is by having atoms, such as rubidium or cesium, that are "ticking" (that is, oscillating) between two quantum states. As such, atomic clocks…
    Read More

  • Thumbnail

    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

  • Thumbnail

    The Great Escape

    The Kapteyn/Murnane group has measured how long it takes an electron born into an excited state inside a piece of nickel to escape from its birthplace. The electron’s escape is related to the structure of the metal. The escape is the…
    Read More

  • Thumbnail

    Talking Atoms & Collective Laser Supercooling

    Move over, single-atom laser cooling! The Holland theory group has just come up with a stunning idea for a new kind of laser cooling for use with ensembles of atoms that all “talk” to each other. In other words, the theory looks at…
    Read More

  • Thumbnail

    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

  • Thumbnail

    Dealing with Loss

    There’s exciting news from JILA’s ultracold molecule collaboration. The Jin, Ye, Holland, and Rey groups have come up with new theory (verified by experiment) that explains the suppression of chemical reactions between potassium-…
    Read More

  • Thumbnail

    Quantum Legoland

    The quantum world is not quite as mysterious as we thought it was. It turns out that there are highways into understanding this strange universe. And, graduate students Minghui Xu and David Tieri with Fellow Murray Holland have just…
    Read More

  • Thumbnail

    A Quantum Leap for Precision Lasers

    To be the best they can be, optical atomic clocks need better clock lasers — lasers that remain phase coherent a hundred times longer than the very best conventional lasers. For instance, light from the clock laser in Fellow Jun Ye’s…
    Read More

In the Spotlight

From left to right: Murray Holland, (front) Catie Ledesma, (back) Kendall Mehling, (Front) Liang-Ying (former JILA graduate student), and Dana Anderson
March 16, 2023: NASA Awards Grant to Group of Quantum Institutes Including JILA and the University of Colorado Boulder for Researching Quantum in Space

JILA (a world-leading physics research institute set up by NIST and the University of Colorado Boulder) is part of a multi-university research group that will build quantum-based tools for space-based Earth sensing.  NASA expects to award a $15 million grant for five years to the group of universities. This cohort includes researchers from the University of Texas at Austin, JILA, the University of Colorado Boulder (CU), the University of California Santa Barbara (USCB), the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), and the U.S. National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST). “The award establishes the Quantum Pathways Institute, supported by a NASA STRI (Space Technology Research Institute), led by Prof. Srinivas Bettadpur of the University of Texas at Austin, Texas, with CU and UCSB as collaborating institutions,” explained Dana Anderson, a JILA Fellow and CU Boulder professor who is involved in the project. The Quantum Pathways Institute is the first of its kind, as it strives to translate the capabilities of quantum physics into usable devices called “Quantum 2.0.” Besides these developments, the Institute will offer educational training for graduate students and postdocs in quantum theory and quantum experimentation.


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Part of logo for Murray Holland's research group
December 30, 2020: Jarrod Reilly wins the Stephen Halley White Undergraduate Research Award

Jarrod Reilly, an undergraduate researcher in the Murray Holland Laboratory, wins the 2020 Stephen Halley White Undergraduate Research Award 


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Murray Holland and student
May 14, 2019: JILA Fellow Murray Holland wins Marinus Smith Award

JILA Fellow Murray Holland was recognized for his outstanding teaching skills this spring.


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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