Atomic ensembles entangled by light for measurements below the standard quantum limit

Massachusetts Institute Of Technology, Cambridge MA

Investigators

Abstract

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). Atomic clocks are the most accurate devices ever made by mankind, and have many important technological applications. The best atomic clocks are currently limited by quantum mechanical uncertainties, namely random fluctuations around a well defined value that constitutes the clock signal. However, it is possible to implement quantum mechanical correlations between atoms to reduce those fluctuations, and improve clock performance. While modest improvements have already been demonstrated in previously funded work, the work performed under this grant will demonstrate an improvement in clock performance by a factor of ten. This research program funded by NSF could significantly improve the precision of the emerging best clock technology, optical-transition atomic clocks. Those clocks have the potential to reach a breathtaking accuracy of one part in ten to the seventeenth, or 0.1 microseconds compared to the age of the universe. Research and educational goals will be united by training graduate students, and by integrating undergraduate students and exceptional high-school students into the research effort. Particularly for undergraduate students, firsthand experimental experience with quantum mechanical objects provides an important, motivating and rewarding educational component. This program will contribute to increase the participation of women (currently three of seven graduate students) and minorities (currently one graduate student).