ITAMP Topical Lunch Discussion
Speaker:
Shimon Kolkowitz (NIST / JILA / University of Colorado,
Boulder)
Title:
Prospects for quantum simulation and gravitational wave
detection with optical lattice clocks
Abstract: Optical
atomic clocks are now the most stable and accurate timekeepers
in the world, operating with fractional accuracies and
stabilities at the 10-18 level. Neutral atom optical lattice
clocks offer the intriguing prospect of harnessing this
precision for the investigation of quantum many-body physics.
Here we present experimental progress towards the generation
and study of spin-orbit coupling in a strontium optical
lattice clock. We utilize an unbalanced 1D horizontal lattice
to realize tunable tunneling while maintaining strong radial
confinement, and take advantage of the sensitivity afforded by
the clock transition to probe the influence of many-body
interactions on the engineered Hamiltonian. We present the
first experimental signatures of spin-orbit coupling in our
lattice clock. We will also present a proposal for a novel
gravitational wave detector composed of space-borne optical
lattice clocks.
Date: Thursday,
March 31st
Time: 12:00-1:30 pm
Pizza will be served.
Location: B-106 @ Center for Astrophysics (60 Garden
Street)
Directions: after entering the lobby of the CfA, turn right to
enter the hallway of the B building. In the hallway, turn
right again, and B-106 is there.
--
Dr. Igor Pikovski
Institute for Theoretical Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics (ITAMP)
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
60 Garden St, MS-14; Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
Tel.: +1 (617) 496-7613
e-mail: igor.pikovski@cfa.harvard.edu
www.cfa.harvard.edu/~igor.pikovski/