Principal Investigator

Research Interests

Professor Nesbitt is interested in laser spectroscopy, dynamics, and kinetics of fundamental molecular, bio-molecular, and nanoparticle systems, studied at either the quantum state-to-state or single molecule level.

Mitch Begelman is a Professor in the Department of Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and a Fellow of JILA. His research interests are in theoretical and high energy astrophysics.

Mitch is the author of two popular books, "Gravity's Fatal Attraction" (with Martin Rees, now in a second revised edition), and "Turn Right at Orion".

Professor James K. Thompson earned his undergraduate degree in Physics from Florida State University and his Ph.D. in Physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.  His doctoral work with David E. Pritchard focused on comparing the masses of two trapped ions with precision better than ten parts in a trillion for testing Einstein's mass-energy relationship E=mc².  As part of this work, James and his colleague Simon Rainville also discovered a novel method for making non-demolition measurements of the quantum state of single molecules.

Overview

Agnieszka Jaron-Becker is Associate Research Professor of Physics at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and  JILA Fellow. In JILA, she serves as co-director of JILA’s Ultrafast Theory Group, which specializes in theoretical studies of ultrafast processes in atoms, molecules, and nanostructures. These ultrafast processes are induced, observed, and controlled by ultrashort intense laser pulses. The laser frequencies studied range from the far infrared through the optical to the soft x-ray region of the electromagnetic spectrum.

My research is theoretical, and my principal interests include black holes, cosmology, and supernovae. My black hole work focuses on general relativistic visualization. My cosmological work concentrates mainly on devising and applying methods to analyze large observational data sets, notably galaxy surveys, with a view to extracting cosmological parameters and other fundamental properties of the Universe.

Ralph’s interests are in experimental studies of dynamics in complex molecular systems. Over the years, he has worked on a wide range of areas where ultrafast spectroscopy is useful such as femtosecond dynamics of liquids, energy transfer in photosynthetic systems, protein-ligand interactions in antibodies, chromophore dynamics of fluorescent proteins. As part of his research, he has developed a number of optical and microfluidic technologies to advance experimental capabilities in liquid-phase chemical dynamics using time-resolved optical or laser-based x-ray techniques.

My research activities include: studying quantum coherence in macroscopic mechanical oscillators, developing quantum-coherent networks of microwave signals for control and measurement, and implementing quantum-limited measurements in astrophysics and condensed matter experiments.

About

• Baur-SPIE Chair in Optical Physics and Photonics at JILA
• Professor of Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder
• JILA Fellow, JILA: NIST and the University of Colorado

Teaching

See teaching page

Affiliations

JILA, University of Colorado and NIST

JILA Center for Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics

Curriculum Vitae 

• Professor, Department of Chemistry
• JILA Fellow, University of Colorado at Boulder

Habilitation:    Universität Karlsruhe (Germany) 2005

Dr. rer. nat.:   Universität Kaiserslautern (Germany) 1998

Dipl. phys.:     Universität Kaiserslautern (Germany) 1994