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# Laser Cooling and Trapping Group

We use ultracold gases and other atomic systems to study quantum phenomena including many-body physics, superfluidity, and quantum information.

### A Primary Standard for Measuring Vacuum

A novel, quantum-based vacuum gauge system invented by researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has passed its first test to be

### Updates to Fundamental Constants Reflect Redefinition of International System of Units

The CODATA Task Group on Fundamental Constants recently produced its 2018 update of a self-consistent set of internationally recommended values of the basic

### Latest Values of Fundamental Constants Published

Four scientists from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have reported the latest values for the fundamental constants of nature on June

### Bringing Atoms to a Standstill: NIST Miniaturizes Laser Cooling

It’s cool to be small. Scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have miniaturized the optical components required to cool atoms

## Projects by Staff Members

Select one of the Staff Members below to obtain background information regarding their research interests.

## Projects and Programs

### Cold-atom-based sensor for measuring pressure in the ultra-high vacuum domain

Ongoing
NIST is building a cold-atom vacuum sensor (CAVS) that will be able to measure pressures in the ultra-high vacuum (UHV) regime corresponding to pressures less

### Controlling collisions between laser-cooled atoms using magnetic fields and nano-eV colliders

Ongoing
We investigate collisions of atoms in either micro-Kelvin gasses or in nano-colliders, where two small atomic clouds are made to collide with adjustable energy

### Fundamental Constants in Nature

Ongoing
We are involved in efforts to collate data on precision measurements and the theoretical description of these measurements with the aim to improve the values of

### Quantum Computation and Simulation with Neutral Atoms

Ongoing
Quantum information processing seeks to use the features of quantum physics to accomplish otherwise intractable computational tasks. The two main thrusts of

### Quantum matter from atomic gases

Ongoing
Measurement. Science is rooted in measurement: it is from measurements, as unified by theory, that understanding is born. Our comprehension of the universe is

### Quantum Nonlinear Optics for Metrology and Networking

Ongoing
Quantum nonlinear optics provides a means to generate and manipulate light at the quantum level, with applications in enhanced sensing and metrology, and in

### Spinor Condensates and Ultracold Collisions

Ongoing
Interactions between cold atoms can provide us with the means to manipulate matter on the smallest scales. Collisions between laser-cooled atoms, in particular

## Publications

### Topological charge pumping with subwavelength Raman lattices

Author(s)
Ian Spielman, Gediminas Juzeliunas, Domantas Burba, mantas Raciunas
Recent experiments demonstrated deeply subwavelength lattices using atoms with $N$ internal states Raman-coupled with lasers of wavelength $\lambda$. The

### Dynamical Instability of 3d Stationary and Traveling Planar Dark Solitons

Author(s)
Ian Spielman, Amilson R. Fritsch, T. Mithun, Panayotis Kevrekidis
Here we revisit the topic of stationary and propagating solitonic excitations in self-repulsive three-dimensional Bose-Einstein condensates by quantitatively

### Dynamically Induced Symmetry Breaking and Out-of-Equilibrium Topology in a 1D Quantum System

Author(s)
Ian Spielman, Graham Reid, Alina Pineiro Escalera, Amilson R. Fritsch, Mingwu Lu
Nontrivial topology in lattices is characterized by invariants---such as the Zak phase for one-dimensional (1D) lattices---derived from wave functions covering

### Floquet engineering topological Dirac bands

Author(s)
Ian Spielman, Mingwu Lu, Amilson R. Fritsch, Graham Reid, Alina Pineiro Escalera
We experimentally realized a time-periodically modulated 1D lattice for ultracold atoms featuring a pair of linear bands, each associated with a Floquet winding

## Awards

### 2020 - Arthur S. Flemming Award---William Phillips, Ian Coddington, Andrew Ludlow

The Arthur S. Flemming Award was established in 1948 to honor outstanding federal employees for unusually meritorious work.

### 2019/2020 George A. Snow Memorial Award - Gretchen Campbell

For her work on the Conferences for Undergraduate Women in Physics (CUWiP). About Dr. George A. Snow: Throughout his tenure at the

### 2020 Arthur S. Flemming Katharine B. Gebbie Lifetime Achievement Award for Outstanding Federal Service – William D. Phillips

In addition to the Arthur S. Flemming awards given annually to midcareer federal employees, William D. Phillips, a physicist in NIST’s

### 2019 - Presidential Rank Award---Ian Spielman

For his pioneering work and leadership in developing quantum simulation techniques to investigate natural phenomena too complex for traditional mathematical computation.