Squeezing Quantum Uncertainty by Entangling Atoms

  • Speaker
  • Monika Schleier-Smith, Ph.D.Associate Professor, Physics, Stanford University
Date & Time


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Quantum uncertainty hampers the precision of state-of-the-art measurements of time, magnetic fields, acceleration and gravity. Pushing these measurements to their ultimate limits requires engineering entanglement, that is, controllably introducing correlations into the randomness inherent in the probabilistic nature of quantum mechanics.

In this lecture, Monika Schleier-Smith will describe experiments in which clouds of atoms are manipulated with laser light to generate entanglement that squeezes quantum uncertainty for improved measurement precision. She will also touch on broader opportunities for leveraging the experimental toolbox of atoms and photons in areas ranging from quantum computation to table-top simulations of quantum gravity.

About the Speaker

Schleier-Smith is an associate professor in the physics department at Stanford University. Her research employs atoms and light as building blocks for advancing control and understanding of quantum many-body systems motivated by applications in quantum sensing, simulation and computation. She is a recipient of the I. I. Rabi Prize in Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics, a fellow of the American Physical Society and a MacArthur Foundation fellow.

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