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

我的研究小组使用激光冷却原子和量子纠缠光子来研究新现象，特别是与量子技术令人兴奋的新应用（特别是在信息处理和精密测量方面）所提出的挑战和问题有关，并研究量子力学中的基础问题。在过去的20年里，控制量子系统的实验能力已经达到了一个合理的水平，可以期待广泛的应用，从量子信息处理到反应的相干控制，再到以前难以处理的系统的量子模拟。特别是，现在人们已经很好地理解，量子信息与其经典表亲在性质上是不同的，国际上的一项重大努力旨在建立一个系统，使我们能够利用量子信息处理的指数能力。在接下来的五年里，我们的主要目标是：（1）追求新创建的“量子非线性光学”领域，在这个领域中，我们和其他人已经能够设计出单个光子之间的强相互作用，这是以前无法实现的能力，如光学量子逻辑门和强纠缠“光子气体”的新来源;（2）利用我们的玻色-爱因斯坦凝聚与含时势的相互作用来解决长期存在的关于隧穿时间和量子力学中其他基本问题的问题;（3）继续我们的工作，了解如何使用量子态进行最灵敏的测量。我们已经开发出一个系统，可以产生宇宙中最冷的一些原子，沿着世界上光谱亮度最高的纠缠光子源，并且首次进行了测量单个光子在第二束光束上写入效果的实验，我们处于一个非常好的位置，可以接受这些令人兴奋的挑战。

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.