News

Mon November 18, 2024

Emergent ferromagnetic states revealed in a geometrically frustrated triangular lattice

In a material, the way electrons align their spins to form a magnetic phase strongly depends on the geometry of the crystal they inhabit. In particular, triangular lattice geometries display an effect called geometrical frustration, where up and down spins cannot all be antialigned classically. This effect is thought to give rise to complex and...
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News type:
Research Highlights
Mon November 18, 2024

CUA scientists observe microemulsion phases in the quantum melting of an electron Wigner crystal

Electrons, as quantum particles, display wave-like behavior. Forming a crystalline phase of electrons requires not only cooling but also strong Coulomb (repulsive) forces to counteract their wave-like nature. When this balance is achieved, electrons can arrange into a Wigner crystal. By adjusting electron density, a phase transition between a crystalline and liquid state can occur....
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News type:
Research Highlights
Mon November 18, 2024

A Conveyor Belt MOT of Diatomic Molecules

Ultracold molecules provide a powerful and versatile platform for quantum computing,simulation, and metrology applications. The cornerstone technique for generating these cold, dense samples of molecular gasses is the magneto-optical trap (MOT). Conventional molecular MOTs use red-detuned light, limiting them to relatively high temperatures and low densities, leading to small spatial overlap and low loading efficiency...
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News type:
Research Highlights
Thu November 14, 2024

Cavity-enabled real-time observation of individual atomic collisions

Arrays of individual neutral atoms represent a promising platform for quantum information processing due to their scalability, arbitrary connectivity, and long coherence times. These features are enabled in large part by the simple trapping and high-fidelity fluorescence imaging of individual atoms within tweezer traps. In our lab, we use strong dispersive coupling to a high-cooperativity...
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News type:
Research Highlights
Fri October 25, 2024

CUA @ SPARK 2024

Spark is the day of STEM at UP Academies, hosted at one of UP’s schools in Dorchester. Students across UP academies spend the day learning about STEM subjects and careers. The goal is to bring hands-on immersive STEM experiences to the students to spark joy, excitement and wonder for STEM learning and career pathways. CUA provided...
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News type:
Outreach News
Wed October 16, 2024

Vladan Vuletic wins the 2025 Arthur L. Schawlow Prize in Laser Science

Full award information can be found here.
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News type:
Awards
Wed October 16, 2024

Norman Yao wins 2025 I. I. Rabi Prize

Full prize information can be found here.
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News type:
Awards
Fri May 3, 2024

Physicists arrange atoms in extremely close proximity

Proximity is key for many quantum phenomena, as interactions between atoms are stronger when the particles are close. In many quantum simulators, scientists arrange atoms as close together as possible to explore exotic states of matter and build new quantum materials. They typically do this by cooling the atoms to a stand-still, then using laser...
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News type:
Research Highlights
Fri February 9, 2024

Technique could improve the sensitivity of quantum sensing devices

In quantum sensing, atomic-scale quantum systems are used to measure electromagnetic fields, as well as properties like rotation, acceleration, and distance, far more precisely than classical sensors can. The technology could enable devices that image the brain with unprecedented detail, for example, or air traffic control systems with precise positioning accuracy.    
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News type:
Research Highlights
Sun December 24, 2023

Harvard Unveils World’s First Logical Quantum Processor

Harvard’s breakthrough in quantum computing features a new logical quantum processor with 48 logical qubits, enabling large-scale algorithm execution on an error-corrected system. This development, led by Mikhail Lukin, represents a major advance towards practical, fault-tolerant quantum computers.
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News type:
Research Highlights