Malcolm
Boshier is the Director of the Quantum Initiative
and part of a team attempting to harness atoms provided by a Bose-Einstein condensate to build a
waveguide atom interferometer. Such a device would be extremely sensitive to any interaction that
affects the energies of atoms and could be miniaturized to dimensions of just a few millimeters, which might make possible
a new generation of ultra-sensitive miniature sensors.
John Chiaverini uses individually trapped ions for the development of quantum information processing applications. Current work is centered on the development of experimental methods for quantum emulation of condensed-matter physics Hamiltonians. By bringing about the quantum evolution of a system of interacting quantum particles through mapping to an atomic system, exponential difficulties with simulating these systems can be circumvented using a quantum processor. Other interests include microfabricated ion microtrap arrays for scalability, novel quantum gates using large gradient fields, and quantum-enhanced metrology.
Michael Di Rosa began his career at Los Alamos trapping atoms and now conducts experimental reasearch in laser-cooling select diatomic molecules, some of which are paramagnetic and disposed to magneto-optical trapping. The current focus is on Doppler-cooling molecules, a first demonstration that could catalyze new topics in molecular physics much as laser-cooling reinvented ultracold atomic physics. Experimental quantum optics is another area of active research. Presently, with Quantum Institute theorists, Michael is exploring ways of detecting single photons without destroying them in a so-called quantum nondemolition (QND) measurement. The prospects for all-optical quantum computing and fully-deterministic Bell-state analyzers hinge on the availability of a QND detector and motivate our research..
David Vieira is a nuclear chemist in the Chemistry Division who conducts fundamental atomic and nuclear physics experiments involving trapped radioactive atoms, ultrasensitive detection, and quantum information and control. He also carries out investigations into fundamental symmetries, radioactive beams, and neutron-induced cross section measurements.
Xinxin Zhao, of the Chemistry Division, conducts research on novel atom cooling and trapping
techniques. Using recent advances in laser cooling and atom trapping, Zhao's team at Los Alamos has adapted cooling
and trapping techniques to make measurements of parity violation in radioactive atoms as a means to test the Standard Model
of electroweak interactions.
