MRI: Acquisition of a Phase Stabilized Optical Frequency Comb for Precision Metrology, Quantum Sensing, Information Processing, and Novel Spectroscopy

这项来自国家科学基金会重大研究仪器项目的奖项支持内华达大学拉斯维加斯分校(UNLV)购买相位稳定的光学频率梳。光学频率梳(OFC)支持物理、化学、电气工程和地球科学系的广泛研究活动。该仪器将扩大研究能力，并引发UNLV 15名教职员工与大约50名相关学生和博士后之间的合作。该设备将是建立一个探索量子传感和信息处理新方法和技术的研究中心的基石，将AMO物理、凝聚态物理、物理化学、电气工程和地球科学的专业知识结合起来。这一工具将有助于对科学和工程中的基本问题进行调查，推进对联合国志愿人员组织不同的STEM研究生和本科生的培训，并增加内华达州南部地区和西南沙漠地区现有的熟练劳动力。所要求的OFC将是内华达州第一个具有极高相干和宽带的先进光源设施。因此，在联合国志愿人员组织的研究核心内安装所要求的仪器将加强南内华达州在量子科学、新材料以及天体物理和地质勘探方面的经济发展能力。该项目由MPS(数学和物理科学)委员会、物理(PHY)司、已建立的激励竞争研究计划(EPSCoR)和综合活动办公室(OIA)联合资助。OFC是最新一代的光源，它同时结合了频域中的准确相位信息(约每10^20的1部分)和时间域的超快时间信息(飞秒)。它被用作探索基础科学中新现象的精密光学频率合成器，是世界上最精确的原子钟的关键部件(2005年诺贝尔物理学奖)。除了表现出超宽的光谱覆盖范围和窄的线宽，OFC还以前所未有的速度和灵敏度革新了分子光谱，已经在物理、化学和环境科学中实现了成功的应用。UNLV的OFC将实现以下详细研究：(1)开发新一代量子传感器，促进对标准模型以外的新物理的探索；(2)量子计算平台(光子、离子、超导电路)的研究和它们之间量子网络的构建；(3)双OFC在凝聚态物理和化学的各种研究中利用和扩展新型的异步采样泵浦-探测光谱，如探测2D系统中的拓扑相和高压下的超快光化学；(4)利用高效的非线性光谱研究新型合成材料，如室温超导体(RTSC)；(5)通过进行宽带高分辨率冷分子光谱和探测离子-自由基冷碰撞来探索星际化学；(6)通过含有重元素的分子的高分辨率光谱研究放射化学；以及(7)开发确定固体岩石样品中元素丰度的新技术。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This award from the National Scientific Foundation Major Research Instrumentation program supports the acquisition of a phase stabilized optical frequency comb by the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV). The optical frequency comb (OFC) enables a broad range of research activities in the Departments of Physics, Chemistry, Electric engineering, and Geoscience. The instrument will expand research capabilities and ignite collaboration between 15 faculty at UNLV and roughly 50 of their associated students and postdocs. The equipment will be a cornerstone toward building a research center for exploring new methods and technologies in quantum sensing and information processing, connecting expertise in AMO physics, condensed matter physics, physical chemistry, electric engineering, and geoscience. This instrument will enable investigations of fundamental questions in science and engineering, advance the training of the diverse graduate and undergraduate STEM students at UNLV, and increase the skilled workforce available in the Southern Nevada area and the desert Southwest. The requested OFC will be the first advanced light source facility with extreme coherence and broad bandwidth in Nevada. Thus, installation of the requested instrument within a UNLV research core will enhance the capabilities of Southern Nevada economic development in quantum science, novel materials, and astrophysical and geological explorations. This project is jointly funded by the MPS (Mathematical and Physical Sciences) Directorate, the Physics (PHY) Division, the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR), and the Office of Integrative Activities (OIA).The OFC is the newest generation of light sources that combines accurate phase information (approximately 1 part per 10^20) in the frequency-domain and ultrafast temporal information (femtoseconds) in the time-domain simultaneously. It has been used as a precision optical frequency synthesizer to explore new phenomena in fundamental science and is a crucial component in the world's most precise atomic clock (Nobel Prize in Physics, 2005). Besides exhibiting an ultrabroad spectroscopic coverage and narrow linewidth, the OFC revolutionizes molecular spectroscopy with unprecedented speed and sensitivity, having already enabled successful applications in physics, chemistry, and environmental science. The OFC at UNLV will enable the following detailed studies: (1) development of a new generation of quantum sensors facilitating exploration of new physics beyond the Standard Model; (2) investigations of quantum computation platforms (photon, ion, superconducting circuit) and construction of a quantum network between them; (3) utilization and extension of novel asynchronous sampling pump-probe spectroscopy by dual-OFC in various studies in condensed matter physics and chemistry, such as probing driven topological phases in 2D systems and ultrafast photochemistry under high pressure; (4) study of novel synthesized materials, such as room-temperature superconductors (RTSC) by efficient nonlinear spectroscopy; (5) exploration of interstellar chemistry by performing broadband, high-resolution spectroscopy of cold molecules and probing ion-radical cold collisions; (6) study of radiochemistry by high resolution spectroscopy of molecules containing heavy elements; and (7) development of new technology for determining elemental abundances in solid rock samples.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.