Congratulations to Shimon Kolkowitz on his promotion to Associate Professor of Physics with tenure! Professor Kolkowitz is an AMO physicist whose research focuses on ultraprecise atomic clocks and nitrogen vacancy (NV) centers in diamonds, both …
Read the full article at: https://www.physics.wisc.edu/2022/11/01/shimon-kolkowitz-promoted-to-associate-professor/WQI News
Alex Levchenko, Mark Rzchowski elected Fellows of the American Physical Society
Congratulations to Profs. Alex Levchenko and Mark Rzchowski, who were elected 2022 Fellows of the American Physical Society! Levchenko was elected for “broad contributions to the theory of quantum transport in mesoscopic, topological, and superconducting …
Read the full article at: https://www.physics.wisc.edu/2022/10/19/alex-levchenko-mark-rzchowski-elected-fellows-of-the-american-physical-society/Collaboration between NSF quantum centers finds path to fault tolerance in neutral atom qubits
Like the classical computers we use every day, quantum computers can make mistakes when manipulating and storing the quantum bits (qubits) used to perform quantum algorithms. Theoretically, a quantum error correction protocol can correct these …
Read the full article at: https://www.physics.wisc.edu/2022/09/12/nsf-quantum-center-collaboration-finds-path-to-fault-tolerance-in-neutral-atom-qubits/Margaret Fortman awarded Google quantum computing fellowship
This post was adapted from a story posted by the UW–Madison Graduate School Two UW–Madison graduate students, including physics grad student Margaret Fortman, have been awarded 2022 Google Fellowships to pursue cutting-edge research. Fortman received …
Read the full article at: https://www.physics.wisc.edu/2022/09/08/margaret-fortman-awarded-google-quantum-computing-fellowship/Opening doors to quantum research experiences with the Open Quantum Initiative
This past winter, Katie Harrison, then a junior physics major at UW–Madison, started thinking about which areas of physics she was interested in studying more in-depth. “Physics is in general so broad, saying you want …
Read the full article at: https://www.physics.wisc.edu/2022/08/29/opening-doors-to-quantum-research-experiences-with-the-open-quantum-initiative/Coherent light production found in very low optical density atomic clouds
No atom is an island, and scientists have known for decades that groups of atoms form communities that “talk” to each other. But there is still much to learn about how atoms — particularly energetically …
Read the full article at: https://www.physics.wisc.edu/2022/07/21/coherent-light-production-found-in-very-low-optical-density-atomic-clouds/Chemist Randall Goldsmith named a Schmidt Science Polymath
The UW–Madison professor's multidisciplinary approach to studying chemical and biophysical systems earned a $2.5 million award from the philanthropic organization founded by the former CEO of Google.
Read the full article at: https://news.wisc.edu/chemist-randall-goldsmith-named-a-schmidt-science-polymath/Thad Walker honored with Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professorship
Extraordinary members of the University of Wisconsin–Madison faculty, including physics professor and WQI member Thad Walker, have been honored during the last year with awards supported by the estate of professor, U.S. senator and UW Regent William F. Vilas (1840-1908).
Walker was one of seventeen professors were named to Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professorships, an award recognizing distinguished scholarship as well as standout efforts in teaching and service. The professorship provides five years of flexible funding — two-thirds of which is provided by the Office of the Provost through the generosity of the Vilas trustees and one-third provided by the school or college whose dean nominated the winner.
In addition, nine professors received Vilas Faculty Mid-Career Investigator Awards and six professors received Vilas Faculty Early Career Investigator Awards.
UW–Madison, industry partners run quantum algorithm on neutral atom quantum computer for the first time
A university-industry collaboration has successfully run a quantum algorithm on a type of quantum computer known as a cold atom quantum computer for the first time. The achievement by the team of scientists from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, ColdQuanta and Riverlane brings quantum computing one step closer to being used in real-world applications.
The work out of Mark Saffman’s group was published in Nature on April 20.
Read the press release tipsheet
Ultraprecise atomic clock poised for new physics discoveries
Wisconsin Quantum Institute physicists have made one of the highest performance atomic clocks ever, they announced Feb. 16 in the journal Nature.
Their instrument, known as an optical lattice atomic clock, can measure differences in time to a precision equivalent to losing just one second every 300 billion years and is the first example of a “multiplexed” optical clock, where six separate clocks can exist in the same environment. Its design allows the team to test ways to search for gravitational waves, attempt to detect dark matter, and discover new physics with clocks.
“Optical lattice clocks are already the best clocks in the world, and here we get this level of performance that no one has seen before,” says Shimon Kolkowitz, a UW–Madison physics professor with WQI and senior author of the study. “We’re working to both improve their performance and to develop emerging applications that are enabled by this improved performance.”
Atomic clocks are so precise because they take advantage of a fundamental property of atoms: when an electron changes energy levels, it absorbs or emits light with a frequency that is identical for all atoms of a particular element. Optical atomic clocks keep time by using a laser that is tuned to precisely match this frequency, and they require some of the world’s most sophisticated lasers to keep accurate time.
By comparison, Kolkowitz’s group has “a relatively lousy laser,” he says, so they knew that any clock they built would not be the most accurate or precise on its own. But they also knew that many downstream applications of optical clocks will require portable, commercially available lasers like theirs. Designing a clock that could use average lasers would be a boon.