MRI-R2: Laser Acquisition and Modernization Program (LAMP) for Quantum Science and Engineering

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This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).This award is for an equipment acquisition program to establish the LAMP Facility at MIT, to provide intense, ultra-stable, optical sources from the near ultraviolet to the infrared frequency range, referenced to optical frequency combs anchored to an absolute frequency standard. The equipment is composed of three subsystems: the master frequency comb, the intense frequency locked light sources, and the interface lasers. The master comb will employ Ti:Sapphire laser based combs, fiber laser combs, and existing frequency references; the light sources will employ lasers at wavelengths ranging from 323nm to 1.5μm; and the interface lasers will employ lasers for creation of atomic and solid state systems which can be coherently controlled. LAMP builds on two major NSF programs at MIT, the Center for Ultracold Atoms (CUA), a Physics Frontier Center, and Interdisciplinary Quantum Information Science and Engineering, an Integrative Graduate Education, Research, and Training (IGERT) program; together, these activities span five departments and involve over ~100 students and staff. The facility will enable major new explorations at the frontier of quantum science, including the realization of new quantum systems made of polar molecules, which have strong dipole-dipole interactions. At nanokelvin temperatures, these molecules may form a new form of matter, a supersolid, allowing studies of nanokelvin chemistry, providing qubits for quantum information science with distinct advantages over other approaches to quantum gates. LAMP also allows novel manipulations of cold ions in cryogenic ion trap, bringing this research to the next level, the realization of large-scale quantum computers, and long-distance, coherent quantum interconnects.The broader aspects of the LAMP facility include reaching out to the broad research and teaching community through LAMP LITE, a technical exchange program for researchers to access the instrument, and through enhancement of established efforts such as the CUA Teaching Opportunities in Physical Sciences program involving high school students and prospective high school teachers. LAMP is also made available to students from minority institutions.