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/WQI News
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.
Shimon Kolkowitz awarded Sloan Fellowship
Four University of Wisconsin–Madison professors, including WQI’s Shimon Kolkowitz, have been named to Sloan Research Fellowships — competitive, prestigious awards given to promising researchers in the early stages of their careers.
“Today’s Sloan Research Fellows represent the scientific leaders of tomorrow,” says Adam F. Falk, president of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, which has awarded the fellowships since 1955. “As formidable young scholars, they are already shaping the research agenda within their respective fields—and their trailblazing won’t end here.”
Kolkowitz, an assistant professor of physics, builds some of the most precise clocks in the world by trapping ultracold atoms of strontium — clocks so accurate they could be used to test fundamental theories of physics and search for dark matter.
UW–Madison’s other 2022 Sloan Fellows are Tatyana Shcherbina (math), Zachary K. Wickens (chemistry) and Andrew Zimmer (math).
The UW–Madison professors are among 118 researchers from the United States and Canada honored by the New York-based philanthropic foundation. The four new fellows join 110 UW–Madison researchers honored in the past.
Each fellow receives $75,000 in research funding from the foundation, which awards Sloan Research Fellowships in eight scientific and technical fields: chemistry, computer science, economics, mathematics, computational and evolutionary molecular biology, neuroscience, ocean sciences and physics.
Mark Saffman talks quantum computing to UW Retirement Association
WQI director Mark Saffman will be giving a talk to the UW retirement association Tuesday, January 4 on quantum computing. He will discuss what a quantum computer is and what sorts of problems it can solve, and share some of the research going on at WQI and how the results of that research are likely to affect the world in which we live.
As a token of their appreciation the retirement association will be making a donation to a Madison area food bank.
Shimon Kolkowitz earns NSF CAREER award
Shimon Kolkowitz has already developed one of the most precise atomic clocks ever. Now, the UW–Madison physics professor has been awarded a Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to …
Read the full article at: https://www.physics.wisc.edu/2021/12/15/shimon-kolkowitz-awarded-nsf-career-award/