Experimental Quantum Information, Quantum Measurement, and Quantum Foundations With Entangled Photons and Ultracold Atoms

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My research group uses laser-cooled atoms and quantum-entangled photons to study novel phenomena, specifically in relation to the challenges and questions raised by the exciting new applications of quantum technologies (particularly in information processing and precision measurement), and to studying foundational issues in quantum mechanics. Over the past 20 years, experimental capabilities for control of quantum systems have reached a level that makes it reasonable to expect widespread applications, ranging from quantum information processing to coherent control of reactions to quantum simulations of previously intractable systems. In particular, it is now well understood that quantum information is qualitatively different from its classical cousin, and a large international effort aims at building the systems which will allow us to take advantage of the exponential power of quantum information processing. Over the next five years, we propose principally to (1) pursue the newly created field of "quantum nonlinear optics," in which we and others have been able to engineer such strong interactions between individual photons that previously out-of-reach capabilities such as optical quantum logic gates and new sources of strongly entangled "photon gases" are at hand; (2) use the interactions of our Bose-Einstein condensate with time-dependent potentials to address long-standing questions over tunneling times and other fundamental issues in quantum mechanics; (3) and continue our work on understanding how to make the most sensitive possible measurements using quantum states. Having developed a system for producing some of the coldest atoms in the universe, along with the highest-spectral-brightness source of entangled photons in the world, and the first experiment to measure the effect a single photon can write on a second light beam, we are in an excellent position to take on these exciting challenges.