Center: Center for Ultracold Atoms

理解、控制和驾驭日益复杂的多体量子系统是科学的重要前沿，对新材料的开发和量子信息科学的进步至关重要。阐明微观物理如何决定量子系统的宏观行为是现代科学的重大开放问题之一，也是物理学的前沿。超冷原子中心(CUA)是麻省理工学院和哈佛大学的合作项目，目标是创造、控制和研究量子系统中的有意复杂性。CUA以协作和协同的方式解决了这一根本挑战，使用了在微观尺度上很好地理解、准确量化和在量子水平上高度可控的粒子属性和相互作用的系统。CUA还将通过针对科学界和普通公众的广泛活动组合来促进教育和外联。核心外展计划EngageCUA将这些活动的参与扩展到整个CUA社区。第一个领域专注于原子和分子的量子气体，目标是在多个方向上扩大对多体系统的控制，包括长程力和新的几何结构(双层系统、受挫晶格、规范场)。第二个领域是里德堡原子和分子的可编程阵列。它们将被用来探索高度纠缠的物质相，进行纠错的基础研究，并寻求新的应用，例如量子化学。第三个领域利用了类原子和杂化系统，包括自旋缺陷和二维几何结构中的俘获电子和激子。这些固态系统将使量子模拟具有强大的相互作用，并在传感和计量方面获得新的应用。第四个领域集中在强耦合原子和光子上。更大的目标是实现设计原子和光子的多体状态的新能力，应用于量子非线性光学、量子计量学和网络。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。

Understanding, controlling, and harnessing increasingly complex many-body quantum systems is an important frontier of science, and is essential for the development of new materials and the advance of quantum information science. Elucidating how microscale physics determines the macroscale behavior of quantum systems is one of the grand, open questions of modern science and a physics frontier. The Center for Ultracold Atoms (CUA) is a joint effort between the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University with the goal of creating, controlling, and studying intentional complexity in quantum systems. The CUA addresses this fundamental challenge in a collaborative and synergistic manner, using systems where the properties and interactions of particles at the microscopic scale are well understood, accurately quantified, and highly controllable at the quantum level. The CUA will also advance education and outreach with a broad portfolio of activities aimed at both the scientific community and the general public. The core outreach program, EngageCUA, extends participation in these activities to the whole CUA community.The CUA research activities are divided into four major areas. The first area focuses on quantum gases of atoms and molecules and aims at expanding control over many-body systems in multiple directions, including long-range forces and novel geometries (bilayer systems, frustrated lattices, gauge fields). The second area is programmable arrays of Rydberg atoms and molecules. They will be used to explore highly-entangled phases of matter, to perform fundamental research on error correction, and to pursue new applications, e.g., to quantum chemistry. The third area exploits atom-like and hybrid systems, including spin defects and trapped electrons and excitons in two-dimensional geometries. These solid-state systems will enable quantum simulations with strong interactions and new applications in sensing and metrology. The fourth area focuses on strongly coupled atoms and photons. The larger goal is to enable new capabilities for engineering many-body states of atoms and photons, with applications in quantum nonlinear optics, quantum metrology, and networking.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.