About the Thompson Group
Our lab explores two frontiers of quantum science: quantum simulation and quantum sensing. We do this in three different experiments using laser-cooled strontium and rubidium atoms trapped between highly reflective mirrors. Light-matter interactions create correlations and entanglement between thousands to millions of atoms. We use all aspects of quantum mechanics: unitary dynamics, the quantum measurement process, and dissipation. Explore the different projects below to learn more about dynamical phase transitions, entangled matterwave interferometers, and superradiant lasers.
Research Areas
Learn how we create some of the most entangled states in the world and how we have realized first entangled matterwave interferometer that operates with a phase resolution below the Standard Quantum Limit
Learn how we are working to realize an ultra-stable continuous superradiant laser for probing the universe more precisely.
Learn about our quantum many-body simulator realized by cavity-mediated interactions.
Stories About Our Research
Research Highlights
In the Spotlight
JILA graduate students Tyler McMaken, Ran Brynn Reiff, and Julia Cline all win the 2020 CU Physics Department TA awards
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A new national quantum research center draws on JILA Fellows' and their expertise to make the United States an international leader in quantum technology.
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Three JILA Fellows have been named 2018 Fellows of the American Physical Society. The three new Fellows—Andreas Becker, Heather J. Lewandowski, and James K. Thompson—were nominated from varying divisions of APS. Andreas Becker was nominated by the APS Division of Atomic, Molecular & Optical physics for his contributions to the understanding of the behavior of atoms and molecules in intense light fields, including seminal theoretical studies of attosecond dynamics, photoionization, complex electron dynamics in simple systems such as H2, and a better understanding of high-harmonic generation.
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JILA Graduate Students Julia Cline and William Cairncross swept the student poster awards at DAMOP 2018. The Topical Group on Precision Measurement and Fundamental Constants (GPMFC) hosts a student poster competition at the annual meeting for Division for Atomic, Molecular & Optical Physics (DAMOP).
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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