About the Lehnert Group
In our group, we build electrical and electromechanical machines and coax them into exhibiting quantum behavior. We are motivated by asking: “what is the largest and most tangible object that can be in two places at once?” In addition, we seek to use these machines to store, process, and transmit information in an essentially quantum way. Finally, we develop measurement tools for sensing feeble forces and electrical signals at the limits imposed by quantum mechanics.
Research Areas
Electrical circuits and optical systems are both technology domains in which quantum information can be manipulated, stored, and transmitted. But there is presently no way to transmit quantum information between these domains, hindering the creation of a quantum network of superconducting quantum computers. We investigate the electro-optic transduction of quantum information to enable such a quantum network.
Is sound a quantum phenomenon? Indeed, it’s now possible to prepare and detect single quantum units of sound. We explore the possibilities enabled by this new science of quantum acoustics.
Several experiments searching for physics beyond the standard model now encounter quantum noise that limits their precision. We study ways to use quantum enhanced methods to circumvent these quantum limits.
Quantum computers are fundamentally digital machines, but their operation requires analog circuity that works in the quantum regime. We create and study innovative quantum electrical circuits.
Stories About Our Research
Connecting Microwave and Optical Frequencies through the Ground State of a Micromechanical Object
The process of developing a quantum computer has seen significant progress in the past 20 years. Quantum computers are designed to solve complex problems using the intricacies of quantum mechanics. These computers can also communicate…
Read MoreNew Research Reveals A More Robust Qubit System, even with a Stronger Laser Light
Qubits are a basic building block for quantum computers, but they’re also notoriously fragile—tricky to observe without erasing their information in the process. Now, new research from CU Boulder and the National Institute of Standards…
Read MoreWiggles in Time: The Search for Dark Matter Continues
In a new paper published in Physical Review Letters, JILA and NIST Fellows Eric Cornell, Jun Ye, and Konrad Lehnert developed a method for measuring a potential dark matter candidate, known as an axion-like particle. Axion-like…
Read More
Scientists develop new, faster method for seeking out dark matter
For nearly a century, scientists have worked to unravel the mystery of dark matter—an elusive substance that spreads through the universe and likely makes up much of its mass, but has so far proven impossible to detect in experiments.…
Read MoreDrumming to the Heisenberg Beat
Quantum drums can get around distracting noise with a new measurement technique—one that perfectly demonstrates the Heisenberg uncertainty principle.
Read MoreCounting the quietest sounds in the universe
How do you hear--and study--the quietest sound in the universe? With a special microphone and speaker.
Read More
Quiet Drumming: Reducing Noise for the Quantum Internet
Quantum computers are set to revolutionize society. With their expansive power and speed, quantum computers could reduce today’s impossibly complex problems, like artificial intelligence and weather forecasts, to mere algorithms. But as…
Read MoreA New Quantum Drum Refrain
Quantum computers require systems that can encode, manipulate, and transmit quantum bits, or qubits. A creative way to accomplish all this was recently demonstrated by Adam Reed and his colleagues in the Lehnert group. The researchers…
Read MoreThe Chameleon Interferometer
The Regal group recently met the challenge of measurements in an extreme situation with a device called an interferometer. The researchers succeeded by using creative alterations to the device itself and quantum correlations. Quantum…
Read More
The Hunt Is On For The Axion
The first results are in from a new search for the axion, a hypothetical particle that may constitute dark matter. Researchers in the Haloscope At Yale Sensitive to Axion Cold Dark Matter (HAYSTAC) recently looked for evidence of the…
Read MoreHow Cold Can a Tiny Drum Get?
Bob Peterson and his colleagues in the Lehnert-Regal lab recently set out to try something that had never been done before: use laser cooling to systematically reduce the temperature of a tiny drum made of silicon nitride as low as…
Read MoreDancing to the Quantum Drum Song
In the future, quantum microwave networks may handle quantum information transfer via optical fibers or microwave cables. The evolution of a quantum microwave network will rely on innovative microwave circuits currently being developed…
Read More
Good Vibrations: The Experiment
The Regal-Lehnert collaboration has just taken a significant step towards the goal of one day building a quantum information network. Large-scale fiber-optic networks capable of preserving fragile quantum states (which encode…
Read MoreThis is the Dawning of the… Age of Entanglement
Tauno Palomaki and his colleagues in the Lehnert group have just gone where no one has gone before: They’ve entangled the quantum motion of a vibrating drum with the quantum state of a moving electrical pulse. What’s more, they figured…
Read MoreThe Quantum Drum Song
In the future, quantum microwave networks may handle quantum information transfer via optical fibers or microwave cables. The evolution of a quantum microwave network will rely on innovative microwave circuits currently being developed…
Read More
The Transporter
The Lehnert group has come up with a clever way to transport and store quantum information. Research associate Tauno Palomaki, graduate student Jennifer Harlow, NIST colleagues Jon Teufel and Ray Simmonds, and Fellow Konrad Lehnert have…
Read MoreQuantum CT Scans
The Lehnert group and collaborators from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) recently made what was essentially a CT scan of the quantum state of a microwave field. The researchers made 100 measurements at…
Read MoreRedefining Chemistry at JILA
Fellows Deborah Jin, Jun Ye, and John Bohn are exploring new scientific territory in cold-molecule chemistry. Experimentalists Jin and Ye and their colleagues can now manipulate, observe, and control ultralow-temperature potassium-…
Read More
Nanomeasurement is a Matter of the Utmost Precision
Not content with stepping on their bathroom scales each morning to watch the arrow spin round to find their weights, former research associate John Teufel and Fellow Konrad Lehnert decided to build a nifty system that could measure more…
Read MoreAll Quiet on the Amplifier Front
Fellow Konrad Lehnert needed a virtually noiseless amplifier to help with his experiments on nanoscale structures, so he invented one. Working with graduate student Manuel Castellanos-Beltran and NIST scientists Kent Irwin, Gene Hilton…
Read MoreNanoartisans Search for Quantum Tremors
Nanoartisans Cindy Regal, John Teufel, and Konrad Lehnert have come up with a clever new way to observe ordinary (very small) things behaving quantum mechanically. They’ve tucked a nanomechanical beam (which is actually a really thin…
Read More
Tunnel Vision
A key challenge in developing new nanotechnologies is figuring out a fast, low-noise technique for translating small mechanical motions into reasonable electronic signals. Solving this problem will one day make it possible to build…
Read MoreThe Great Mouse Race
The race is on! Two mice chase one another around a curvy, roughly elliptical white stripe. But, the goal can't be the finish line – because there isn't one. Rather, the contest seems to be: Which mouse will stay on track for the…
Read More
Research Highlights
Connecting Microwave and Optical Frequencies through the Ground State of a Micromechanical Object
The process of developing a quantum computer has seen significant progress in the past 20 years. Quantum computers are designed to solve complex problems using the intricacies of quantum mechanics. These computers can also communicate…
Read More
New Research Reveals A More Robust Qubit System, even with a Stronger Laser Light
Qubits are a basic building block for quantum computers, but they’re also notoriously fragile—tricky to observe without erasing their information in the process. Now, new research from CU Boulder and the National Institute of Standards…
Read More
Wiggles in Time: The Search for Dark Matter Continues
In a new paper published in Physical Review Letters, JILA and NIST Fellows Eric Cornell, Jun Ye, and Konrad Lehnert developed a method for measuring a potential dark matter candidate, known as an axion-like particle. Axion-like…
Read More
Scientists develop new, faster method for seeking out dark matter
For nearly a century, scientists have worked to unravel the mystery of dark matter—an elusive substance that spreads through the universe and likely makes up much of its mass, but has so far proven impossible to detect in experiments.…
Read More
Drumming to the Heisenberg Beat
Quantum drums can get around distracting noise with a new measurement technique—one that perfectly demonstrates the Heisenberg uncertainty principle.
Read More
Counting the quietest sounds in the universe
How do you hear--and study--the quietest sound in the universe? With a special microphone and speaker.
Read More
Quiet Drumming: Reducing Noise for the Quantum Internet
Quantum computers are set to revolutionize society. With their expansive power and speed, quantum computers could reduce today’s impossibly complex problems, like artificial intelligence and weather forecasts, to mere algorithms. But as…
Read More
A New Quantum Drum Refrain
Quantum computers require systems that can encode, manipulate, and transmit quantum bits, or qubits. A creative way to accomplish all this was recently demonstrated by Adam Reed and his colleagues in the Lehnert group. The researchers…
Read More
The Chameleon Interferometer
The Regal group recently met the challenge of measurements in an extreme situation with a device called an interferometer. The researchers succeeded by using creative alterations to the device itself and quantum correlations. Quantum…
Read More
The Hunt Is On For The Axion
The first results are in from a new search for the axion, a hypothetical particle that may constitute dark matter. Researchers in the Haloscope At Yale Sensitive to Axion Cold Dark Matter (HAYSTAC) recently looked for evidence of the…
Read More
How Cold Can a Tiny Drum Get?
Bob Peterson and his colleagues in the Lehnert-Regal lab recently set out to try something that had never been done before: use laser cooling to systematically reduce the temperature of a tiny drum made of silicon nitride as low as…
Read More
Dancing to the Quantum Drum Song
In the future, quantum microwave networks may handle quantum information transfer via optical fibers or microwave cables. The evolution of a quantum microwave network will rely on innovative microwave circuits currently being developed…
Read More
Good Vibrations: The Experiment
The Regal-Lehnert collaboration has just taken a significant step towards the goal of one day building a quantum information network. Large-scale fiber-optic networks capable of preserving fragile quantum states (which encode…
Read More
This is the Dawning of the… Age of Entanglement
Tauno Palomaki and his colleagues in the Lehnert group have just gone where no one has gone before: They’ve entangled the quantum motion of a vibrating drum with the quantum state of a moving electrical pulse. What’s more, they figured…
Read More
The Quantum Drum Song
In the future, quantum microwave networks may handle quantum information transfer via optical fibers or microwave cables. The evolution of a quantum microwave network will rely on innovative microwave circuits currently being developed…
Read More
The Transporter
The Lehnert group has come up with a clever way to transport and store quantum information. Research associate Tauno Palomaki, graduate student Jennifer Harlow, NIST colleagues Jon Teufel and Ray Simmonds, and Fellow Konrad Lehnert have…
Read More
Quantum CT Scans
The Lehnert group and collaborators from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) recently made what was essentially a CT scan of the quantum state of a microwave field. The researchers made 100 measurements at…
Read More
Redefining Chemistry at JILA
Fellows Deborah Jin, Jun Ye, and John Bohn are exploring new scientific territory in cold-molecule chemistry. Experimentalists Jin and Ye and their colleagues can now manipulate, observe, and control ultralow-temperature potassium-…
Read More
Nanomeasurement is a Matter of the Utmost Precision
Not content with stepping on their bathroom scales each morning to watch the arrow spin round to find their weights, former research associate John Teufel and Fellow Konrad Lehnert decided to build a nifty system that could measure more…
Read More
All Quiet on the Amplifier Front
Fellow Konrad Lehnert needed a virtually noiseless amplifier to help with his experiments on nanoscale structures, so he invented one. Working with graduate student Manuel Castellanos-Beltran and NIST scientists Kent Irwin, Gene Hilton…
Read More
Nanoartisans Search for Quantum Tremors
Nanoartisans Cindy Regal, John Teufel, and Konrad Lehnert have come up with a clever new way to observe ordinary (very small) things behaving quantum mechanically. They’ve tucked a nanomechanical beam (which is actually a really thin…
Read More
Tunnel Vision
A key challenge in developing new nanotechnologies is figuring out a fast, low-noise technique for translating small mechanical motions into reasonable electronic signals. Solving this problem will one day make it possible to build…
Read More
The Great Mouse Race
The race is on! Two mice chase one another around a curvy, roughly elliptical white stripe. But, the goal can't be the finish line – because there isn't one. Rather, the contest seems to be: Which mouse will stay on track for the…
Read More
In the Spotlight
May 18, 2023: JILA and NIST Fellow Konrad Lehnert receives a prestigious MURI award
Read More
JILA and NIST Fellow, along with University of Colorado Professor Konrad Lehnert will be leading a project through the Department of Defense (DoD) competitive Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) Program. CU Boulder was matched only by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in receiving three MURI awards.
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November 25, 2020: Konrad Lehnert named as a 2020 AAAS fellow.
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Konrad Lehnert becomes the 6th JILA Fellow elected as an American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Fellow by the Council of the AAAS.
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May 12, 2020: Department of Defense Awards Konrad Lehnert Prestigious Vannevar Bush Faculty Fellowship
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JILA Fellow Konrad Lehnert has been awarded the Department of Defense’s most prestigious single-investigator award.
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October 23, 2018: Ben Brubaker wins Particle Physics Dissertation Award
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Dr. Benjamin Brubaker won the 2019 Mitsuyoshi Tanaka Dissertation Award in Experimental Particle Physics from the American Physics Society (APS). Dr. Brubaker is currently a postdoctoral research associate at JILA working with Dr. Konrad Lehnert. Brubaker completed his doctoral thesis work at Yale, where he made outstanding contributions to the design and construction of, and detailed the first results from, the HAYSTAC (Haloscope at Yale Sensitive to Axion Cold) dark matter experimental detector. Brubaker’s thesis reports a major milestone in the progress to detect hypothetical particles called axions, which are leading candidates for “cold dark matter.”
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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