Atomic ensemble quantum information with nuclear spin

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This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).This award supports experimental research investigating quantum information using nuclear spin. In quantum information research, atomic gases have been successfully used in many important applications. Prior experiments using atomic ensembles stored quantum information in electron spin. Unfortunately, electron spin is fragile, and information can be easily lost. On the other hand, nuclear spin is comparatively robust. This project will develop techniques for entangling photons with a nuclear ensemble and for storing quantum information in nuclear spin. The project will explore the coherence between photons and nuclei, and use nuclear spin to implement the basic building blocks of ensemble-based quantum information experiments.The broader impact of this program includes the training of graduate and undergraduate students in cold atom research, quantum information research, and many areas of modern technology, such as lasers, optics, high vacuum, and cryogenics. The fundamental concepts underlying the research will be disseminated to a wider audience of students using the internet. Potential practical applications include the development of long-distance secure quantum-cryptographic communication and the ability to network quantum computers.