QuSeC-TAQS: Novel Quantum Algorithms for Optical Atomic Clocks

光学钟是人类迄今为止实现的最精确的仪器。它们作为传感器在基础物理发现方面具有巨大的潜力，例如低频引力波探测和暗物质搜索。然而，自从第一个原子钟实现以来，到目前为止，光学钟通常使用相同的基本模式：统一状态准备和原子样本的询问。相比之下，量子信息科学（QIS）工具箱已经发展到可以单独控制、询问大型阵列中的单个原子，甚至与其他原子纠缠在一起的程度。该项目旨在利用 QIS 的进步来开发使用光学时钟作为传感器的新算法。该团队将培养量子计量学前沿跨学科研究的研究生、本科生和博士后。所有参与者都将接受有关精密测量、量子传感和量子算法的先进概念的培训。通过在尖端研究背景下的培训，这项工作将加强量子劳动力。该项目旨在实现新的量子算法，以推进光学原子钟作为量子传感器，用于检测暗物质、引力波等感兴趣的信号，并作为频率和时间参考。已建立的量子信息科学算法（例如量子纠错）将作为该团队将开发的光学时钟算法的起点。该团队将利用被捕获的中性原子和被捕获的离子阵列的集合，并从现有的量子计算算法中汲取灵感，开发和演示新的测量协议，最大限度地提高其对给定原子数和传感目标的灵敏度。该项目将提高具有多个中性原子集合的光学晶格钟的性能和功能，开创精密测量的新领域。与此同时，该团队将实现带有捕获时钟离子阵列的新离子阱，为算法开发提供补充方法。结合新型时钟算法的发展以及对各种暗物质候选物等传感目标的预期信号的理论分析，这项工作将提高光学时钟的传感范围。开发的算法还将有助于缓解对便携式光学时钟的要求，例如放宽对光学时钟激光系统的限制。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优点和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Optical clocks are the most accurate instruments ever realized by humankind. They have great potential for fundamental physics discovery as sensors, e.g., for low-frequency gravitational wave detection and dark matter searches. However, thus far optical clocks have generally used the same basic modality since the first atomic clocks were realized: uniform state preparation and interrogation of a sample of atoms. In contrast, the quantum information science (QIS) toolbox has developed to the point where single atoms in large arrays can be individually controlled, interrogated, and even entangled with other atoms. This project seeks to leverage QIS advances to develop new algorithms for the use of optical clocks as sensors. The team will train graduate students, undergraduate students, and postdocs in interdisciplinary research at the forefront of quantum metrology. All participants will be trained in advanced concepts regarding precision measurements, quantum sensing, and quantum algorithms. Through training in the context of cutting-edge research, this work will strengthen the quantum workforce.This project aims to realize new quantum algorithms to advance optical atomic clocks as quantum sensors for signals of interest including dark matter, gravitational waves, and as frequency and time references. Established quantum information science algorithms, such as quantum error correction, will serve as a jumping off point for the optical clock algorithms that this team will develop. This team will leverage ensembles of trapped neutral atoms and arrays of trapped ions, and develop and demonstrate new measurement protocols that maximize their sensitivity for a given atom number and sensing target, drawing inspiration from existing quantum computing algorithms. This project will advance the performance and capabilities of optical lattice clocks with multiple ensembles of neutral atoms, pioneering a new frontier in precision measurements. In parallel, this team will realize new ion traps with arrays of trapped clock ions, providing complementary approaches for algorithm development. Taken together with the development of novel clock algorithms and theoretical analyses of the expected signals from sensing targets such as various dark matter candidates, this effort will advance the sensing reach of optical clocks. The algorithms developed will also help ease the requirements for transportable optical clocks, for example by relaxing constraints on the optical clock laser system.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.