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)带来的挑战和问题有关，以及研究量子力学的基本问题。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水平，这使得人们有理由期待广泛的应用，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了量子信息与它的经典表亲在性质上的不同，一项大规模的国际努力旨在建立这样的系统，使我们能够利用量子信息处理的指数级能力。在接下来的五年里，我们主要建议(1)追求新创建的“量子非线性光学”领域，在该领域中，我们和其他人已经能够设计出单个光子之间的强烈相互作用，以至于以前无法企及的能力，如光学量子逻辑门和强纠缠“光子气体”的新来源，是近在咫尺的；(2)利用我们的玻色-爱因斯坦凝聚体与含时势的相互作用，来解决隧道时间和其他量子力学基本问题的长期存在的问题；(3)继续我们的工作，了解如何利用量子态进行最灵敏的可能测量。我们已经开发出了产生宇宙中一些最冷原子的系统，以及世界上最高光谱亮度的纠缠光子源，以及第一个测量单个光子对第二束光束的影响的实验，我们处于绝佳的位置来应对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.**