JILA AMO Physics Frontier Center

JILA是由科罗拉多大学和国家标准与技术研究所(NIST)联合运营的研究所，是国家领先的物理科学研究机构之一。通过物理前沿中心(PFC)计划向JILA提供的资金支持了JILA在原子、分子和光学(AMO)物理及密切相关主题的广泛领域工作的19名高级研究人员。PFC支持的活动包括四个被确定为重点组成部分的主要主题：超冷原子科学、冷分子、新型光谱仪以及教育和外联。在四个组成部分中的每一个部分，拟议的方案都建立在过去成功的基础上，同时允许五名新的年轻调查人员参与。这些研究部分有很强的重叠性，并在其技术基础和科学目标方面密切相关。此外，AMO的每个研究部分都包括一些相关的实验项目和相关的理论活动。联合法援团的努力的统一性反映在这样一个事实上，即大多数法援团的调查员领导不止一个组成部分的项目。法援团的成功已经并将继续受到最先进的技术发展和基础科学进步的强大结合的推动。超冷原子科学的工作将建立在JILAS在玻色-爱因斯坦凝聚和量子简并费米气体方面的专业知识的基础上。未来的努力将继续探索和充分利用磁场费什巴赫共振和光学晶格等工具，这些工具允许对这些系统进行精细控制。在冷分子的工作中，JILA将继续领导开发和应用新工具的努力，以在不同大小和复杂程度上操纵和控制分子。广泛的目标包括选择性地鼓励化学反应的一种结果而不是另一种结果，以期望的(可能是奇异的)状态产生分子，跟踪分子成分之间的能量流动，以及通过一次添加一个来评估溶剂分子的影响。关于新型光谱学的工作将提高日本国际实验室的技术能力，其目标包括开发新型飞秒光谱仪和高分辨率光电子仪器。此外，JILA将把AMO的专业知识应用于一些超越原子和简单分子的研究和控制的科学挑战。这项工作包括应用激光技术和光谱技术来研究更复杂和具有生物重要性的分子系统，以及研究纳米器件中的量子相干性。JILA的教育和外联工作将包括人力资源开发和外联活动，以及一项新的物理教育研究工作，该工作将利用JILA调查人员的专门知识，并寻求制定更好的方法，向所有学生传播AMO科学。教育研究工作的部分资金由研究、评估和交流司提供。通过这种支持开展的JILA计划将产生许多不同的、更广泛的影响。它将通过开发许多新的基于激光的工具和技术来加强技术基础设施，并培养出许多不仅在AMO物理方面而且在技术交流和教学技能方面受到过高度培训的毕业生。它还将通过一个强有力的本科生研究项目和一个面向以少数族裔为主的院校的教职员工和学生的暑期研究项目，吸引更多的学生进入科学领域，特别是来自代表性不足的群体。它将通过各种计划促进普遍的科学兴趣和素养，包括为学龄儿童展示非常受欢迎的科学奇才表演，为新的科学博物馆开发关于光和颜色的展览，以及让受过适当培训的研究生在科罗拉多州8-10年级的科学课堂上介绍科学主题。它还将研究、开发和广泛传播向所有学生教授AMO科学的更好方法，特别是通过在线互动模拟。

JILA, an institute jointly operated by the University of Colorado and the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST), is one of the nations leading research institutes in the physical sciences. The funds provided to JILA through the Physics Frontiers Centers (PFC) program support a collection of 19 senior investigators working at JILA in the broad area of atomic, molecular, and optical (AMO) physics and closely related topics. The PFC-supported activities encompass four major themes that are identified as focus components: ultracold atom science, cold molecules, novel spectroscopies, and education and outreach. In each of the four components, the proposed program builds upon past successes while at the same time allowing the participation of five new young investigators. The research components have strong overlap and are intimately connected in their technology base as well as their scientific goals. Moreover, each of the AMO research components includes both a number of related experimental projects and associated theoretical activities. The unity of the efforts in JILA is reflected in the fact that most of the JILA investigators lead projects in more than one of the components.JILAs success has and will continue to be driven by the powerful combination of state-of-the-art technology development coupled with fundamental scientific advances. Work in ultracold atoms science will build on JILAs expertise in both Bose-Einstein condensation and quantum degenerate Fermi gases. Future efforts will continue to explore and take full advantage of tools such as magnetic-field Feshbach resonances and optical lattices that allow for exquisite control over these systems. In work on cold molecules, JILA will continue to lead efforts to develop and apply novel tools for the manipulation and quantum control of molecules on varying scales of size and complexity. Broad goals include selectively encouraging one outcome of a chemical reaction over another, producing molecules in desired (perhaps exotic) states, tracking the flow of energy among molecular constituents, and assessing the influence of solvent molecules by adding them one at a time. Work on novel spectroscopy will advance JILAs technical capabilities with objectives that include the development of novel femtosecond spectroscopies and high-resolution photoelectron instruments. In addition, JILA will apply its AMO expertise to a few scientific challenges that go beyond the study and control of atoms and simple molecules. This work includes the application of laser technology and spectroscopic techniques to the study of more complex and biologically important molecular systems, and in addition an investigation of quantum coherence in nanoscale devices. JILAs education and outreach efforts will include human resource development and outreach activities, as well as a new physics education research effort that will utilize the expertise of the JILA investigators and seeks to develop better ways to convey AMO science to all students. Partial funding for the education research efforts is provided by the Division of Research, Evaluation and Communication.The JILA program conducted through this support will have many different broader impacts. It will enhance the technical infrastructure by developing many new laser-based tools and techniques, and by producing many graduates who are highly trained not only in AMO physics but also in technical communication and teaching skills. It will also attract more students into science, particularly from under-represented groups, through a vigorous undergraduate research program and a summer research program for faculty and students from predominantly minority-serving institutions. It will contribute to general science interest and literacy through a variety of programs that include presenting the very popular science Wizards show for school children, developing exhibits on light and color for a new science museum, and having suitably trained graduate students present science topics to Colorado 8-10th grade science classes. It will also research, develop, and broadly disseminate better ways to teach AMO science to all students, particularly through on-line interactive simulations.