Abstract: Trapped ion systems are a leading platform for quantum information processing, but they are currently limited to 1D and 2D arrays, which imposes restrictions on both their scalability and their range of applications.
Creating, understanding, and controlling metastable states of quantum matter is highly interesting due to the prospects of enabling ultrafast and energy efficient devices with novel functionality. Recent estimates indicates that non-thermal pathways to metastable phases may require several orders of magnitude less energy than a thermally driven process. In addition, hidden states of matter may be accessed if a system out of equilibrium follow trajectories to a state inaccessible, or nonexistent, under normal equilibrium conditions.
Abstract: Gauge theories form the foundation of modern physics, with applications ranging from early-universe cosmology and heavy-ion collisions to condensed matter systems. However, simulating the real-time dynamics of such quantum many-body systems on classical computers is fraught with difficulties, motivating the pursuit of alternative venues. I will present recent experiments where we employ a large-scale Bose-Hubbard quantum simulator to emulate a U(1) lattice gauge theory, which couples charged matter fields through dynamical gauge fields.
Abstract:
Among all known isotopes, Thorium-229 has the lowest nuclear excited state, only 8.4 eV above the ground state. This so-called "isomer" is accessible to VUV laser excitation and has been proposed as a robust clock transition for future frequency standards. The talk will present most recent progress on measuring the exact nuclear excitation energy and the isomer lifetime in a solid-state environment.
Molecules are amongst the most complex objects that can be controlled and studied at the individual quantum state level. In this talk, I will introduce some of the extraordinary advances made in the last decade by the application of AMO physics tools, including cavity-enhanced optical frequency comb and microwave techniques, to such quantum-state-resolved spectroscopy.
National Synchrotron Light Source II (NSLS-II) has world-leading nanoscale X-ray imaging capabilities. The Full-field X-ray Imaging (FXI) beamline offers nanoscale tomography at ~30 nm resolution with an unprecedented imaging throughput down to ~10 seconds. The Hard X-ray Nanoprobe (HXN) beamline delivers multimodal X-ray imaging based on scanning X-ray microscopy with the smallest beam size of ~10 nm. In addition, additional imaging beamlines are either under construction or being designed to further strengthen the imaging portfolio at NSLS-II.
