CAREER: Fundamental Physics Through Precision Measurements of Trapped Charged Particles

这项职业奖将通过精确测量俘获的带电粒子的性质来实现基础物理测试。许多原子、分子和亚原子粒子具有令人感兴趣的属性，但单独使用粒子进行测量是不切实际的。通常情况下，孤立的粒子缺乏合适的手段来冷却或制备或检测其量子态。最近，用于囚禁离子量子信息处理的技术已经实现了将实际任务转移到共囚禁原子离子，使用两个带电粒子之间的相互作用作为信息总线，并开放了广泛范围的带电粒子进行研究。该奖项允许的实验将集中在双原子分子离子上，包括分子旋转的冷却，已知内态的制备，以及精确确定状态之间的能量差。这些测量将用于寻找电子与质子质量比的时间变化。虽然没有已知的物理定律允许改变这一比例，但在许多寻求将量子力学与引力相结合的理论中，变化是自然而然的。这项工作将通过指导处于研究前沿的本科生来整合研究和教育，同时在一所文理学院开发创新的物理课程。本科生将被介绍到该领域的活跃问题以及用来回答这些问题的实验技术。实验物理中的许多技能可以转移到未来的一系列努力中。此外，这一奖项将允许在阿默斯特学院制定、实施和传播修订后的物理课程。

This CAREER award will enable tests of fundamental physics through precise measurements of the properties of trapped charged particles. Many atoms, molecules, and sub-atomic particles have attributes that are of interest but impractical to measure using a particle in isolation. Often the isolated particle lacks suitable means for cooling or for preparing or detecting its quantum state. Techniques developed for trapped-ion quantum information processing have recently enabled the transfer of the practical tasks to a co-trapped atomic ion, using the interaction between two charged particles as an information bus and opening for investigation a wide range of charged particles. Experiments enabled by this award will focus on diatomic molecular ions, including the cooling of molecular rotation, the preparation of known internal states, and the precise determination of the energy differences between states. These measurements will be applied to searches for time-variation of the electron-to-proton mass ratio. While no known laws of physics allow for a change in this ratio, variation arises naturally in many theories seeking to merge quantum mechanics with gravity.This work will integrate research and education through the mentoring of undergraduates at the forefront of research while developing an innovative physics curriculum at a liberal arts college. Undergraduate students will be introduced to active questions in the field and the experimental techniques being used to answer them. Many skills in experimental physics are transferable to a wide array of future endeavors. In addition, this award will allow for the development, implementation, and dissemination of a revised physics curriculum at Amherst College.