Trapping and cooling laboratory

For more details on any project see The Kielpinski Atomic Physics Group

A crystal of 8 ions held motionless in the trap

Quantum computing with trapped ions

Chief investigator: Associate Professor Dave Kielpinski

Control and manipulation of simple quantum systems is important for refining our understanding of quantum mechanics and for the implementation of reliable quantum computing. The former offers us the possibility of enhancing current scientific measurement technqiues by exploiting quantum phenomena such as entanglement and squeezing. The latter offers the potential for tremendous speedups in cryptography, search, and simulation of quantum systems.

Schematic of laser cooling apparatus

Laser cooling of new atomic species

Chief investigator:  Associate Professor Dave Kielpinski

Current laser cooling techniques are based on scattering light off atoms with single-frequency lasers. This technology has been tremendously successful, making micro-Kelvin temperatures accessible to both researchers and undergraduate students and opening the door to creation of new quantum states of matter, such as the Bose-Einstein condensate. Unfortunately, these techniques cannot be used to laser cool hydrogen, carbon, or nitrogen, the building blocks of life. By using femtosecond lasers for cooling, we hope to study the chemistry of these atoms in an "ultracold test tube.