CAREER: Fundamental Physics Through Precision Measurements of Trapped Charged Particles

这个职业奖将通过精确测量被捕获的带电粒子的性质来测试基础物理。许多原子、分子和亚原子粒子具有感兴趣的属性，但是使用孤立的粒子进行测量是不切实际的。通常，孤立的粒子缺乏用于冷却或用于制备或检测其量子态的合适手段。为捕获离子量子信息处理开发的技术最近使实际任务能够转移到一个共同捕获的原子离子，使用两个带电粒子之间的相互作用作为信息总线，并开放调查范围广泛的带电粒子。该奖项启用的实验将集中在双原子分子离子上，包括分子旋转的冷却，已知内部状态的制备以及状态之间能量差的精确测定。这些测量将被应用于搜索的电子-质子质量比的时间变化。虽然没有已知的物理定律允许这个比例的变化，但在许多试图将量子力学与引力结合起来的理论中，变化会自然出现。这项工作将通过指导处于研究前沿的本科生，同时在文科大学开发创新的物理课程，将研究和教育结合起来。本科生将被介绍给该领域的活跃问题和用于回答这些问题的实验技术。实验物理学中的许多技能可以转移到未来的各种努力中。此外，该奖项将允许在阿默斯特学院修订物理课程的开发，实施和传播。

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.