CAREER: Interfacing Spins with Photons - Quantum Many-Body Physics with Non-Local Interactions

粒子间的力通常是局部的，强度随着距离的增加而减小。局部性限制了我们在自然界中发现的物质的形式——以及在技术上的利用——比物理定律在理论上允许的变化要少得多。例如，虽然量子力学允许信息存储在远距离粒子之间共享的相关性中，但将信息存储在单个本地“比特”中更为自然。在这个项目中，为了探索量子力学的全部潜力，这个团队将设计非局部作用的力，让光子以光速在大质量粒子之间传递信息。潜在的影响包括发现物质的新状态，使计算和精确传感的新方法成为可能。实验将在一个由激光冷却原子组成的模型系统中进行，这些原子可以抽象地理解为自旋或量子位。在光学谐振腔中，原子与光的强耦合将诱发有效的非局部相互作用。这个团队将设计和探索各种自旋模型，包括一个以计算复杂性相变为特征的伊辛模型。他们将研究相互作用的结构如何影响量子相关性和动力学。他们还将以一种可控的方式纠缠原子，比较相干和耗散方法，以利用原子-光相互作用制备多体量子态。高分辨率成像将使量子态的详细表征成为可能。该项目包括有两个主要目标的教育部分。一个教育目标是开展活动，向高中生介绍量子科学的前沿话题，着眼于扩大对物理学的参与。本科生将发展和传播这些活动，从而也作为导师和榜样。第二个目标是评估在高级本科课程（统计力学）中应用以学生为中心的主动学习方法的影响，而不是传统的学生观看教授在黑板上推导复杂方程的讲座。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The forces between particles are typically local, decreasing in strength with increasing distance. Locality restricts the forms of matter that we find in nature - and harness in technology - to be far less varied than what the laws of physics theoretically allow. For example, while quantum mechanics permits information to be stored in correlations shared between distant particles, it is more natural to store information in individual local "bits." In this project, to explore the full potential of quantum mechanics, this team will engineer forces that act non-locally, letting photons carry information between massive particles at light speed. Potential impacts include discovering new states of matter and enabling new approaches to computation and precision sensing.Experiments will be conducted in a model system composed of laser-cooled atoms, which can be understood abstractly as spins or qubits. Effectively non-local interactions will be induced by strongly coupling the atoms to light in an optical resonator. This team will engineer and probe a variety of spin models, including an Ising model featuring a phase transition in computational complexity. They will examine how the structure of interactions influences quantum correlations and dynamics. They will also entangle atoms in a controlled fashion, comparing coherent and dissipative approaches to harnessing atom-light interactions for many-body quantum state preparation. High-resolution imaging will enable detailed characterization of quantum states.The project includes an educational component with two key objectives. One educational objective is to develop activities introducing high-school students to cutting-edge topics in quantum science, with an eye towards broadening participation in physics. Undergraduate students will develop and convey these activities, thereby also serving as mentors and role models. A second objective is to assess the impact of applying a student-centered, active learning approach in an advanced undergraduate course (statistical mechanics), in lieu of traditional lectures where students watch the professor derive complex equations on a blackboard.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.