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

这份来自美国国家科学基金会主要研究仪器项目的奖励支持了内华达大学拉斯维加斯分校（UNLV）购置的相位稳定光学频率梳。光学频率梳（OFC）使物理系、化学系、电气工程系和地球科学系的广泛研究活动成为可能。该仪器将扩大研究能力，并点燃UNLV的15名教师与大约50名相关学生和博士后之间的合作。该设备将成为建立一个研究中心的基石，用于探索量子传感和信息处理的新方法和技术，连接AMO物理、凝聚态物理、物理化学、电气工程和地球科学方面的专业知识。该仪器将能够调查科学和工程方面的基本问题，推进UNLV研究生和本科STEM学生的培训，并增加南内华达地区和西南沙漠地区的熟练劳动力。所要求的OFC将是内华达州第一个具有极端相干性和宽带的先进光源设施。因此，在UNLV研究核心内安装所要求的仪器将增强南内华达州在量子科学、新材料、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）理事会、物理（PHY）司、刺激竞争研究的既定计划（EPSCoR）和综合活动办公室（OIA）共同资助。OFC是最新一代的光源，它同时结合了频域精确的相位信息（大约每10^20分之一）和时域的超快时间信息（飞秒）。它已被用作精密光学频率合成器，用于探索基础科学中的新现象，并且是世界上最精确的原子钟的重要组成部分（诺贝尔物理学奖，2005年）。除了展示超远的光谱覆盖范围和窄线宽外，OFC还以前所未有的速度和灵敏度彻底改变了分子光谱学，已经成功地应用于物理，化学和环境科学。UNLV的OFC将实现以下详细研究：(1)开发新一代量子传感器，促进探索超越标准模型的新物理；(2)量子计算平台（光子、离子、超导电路）的研究和量子网络的构建；(3)基于双ofc的新型异步采样泵浦探测光谱在凝聚态物理和化学的各种研究中的应用和推广，如二维体系中探测驱动的拓扑相和高压下的超快光化学；(4)利用高效非线性光谱技术研究室温超导体等新型合成材料；(5)通过对冷分子进行宽带、高分辨率光谱分析和探测离子自由基冷碰撞，探索星际化学；(6)含重元素分子的高分辨率光谱放射化学研究；(7)固体岩石样品元素丰度测定新技术的发展。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。

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.