Tanya Zelevinsky | |
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Alma mater | MIT and Harvard University |
Known for | High-precision spectroscopy and Quantum Optics |
Awards | Fellow of the American Physical Society (2018) Francis M. Pipkin Award Recipient (2019) |
Tanya Zelevinsky is a professor of physics at Columbia University. Her research focuses on high-precision spectroscopy of cold molecules for fundamental physics measurements, including molecular lattice clocks, ultracold molecule photodissociation, as well as cooling and quantum state manipulation techniques for diatomic molecules with the goal of testing the Standard Model of particle physics. Zelevinsky graduated from MIT in 1999 and received her Ph.D. from Harvard University in 2004 with Gerald Gabrielse as her thesis advisor. Subsequently, she worked as a post-doctoral research associate at the Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics (JILA) with Jun Ye on atomic lattice clocks. She joined Columbia University as an associate professor of physics in 2008. [1] Professor Zelevinsky became a Fellow of the American Physical Society in 2018 and received the Francis M. Pipkin Award in 2019. [1]
Zelevinsky is known for her pioneering experiments with ultracold strontium, an alkaline earth element. Zelevinsky performed seminal work on the strontium optical lattice clock in the group of Jun Ye at JILA and was the first to use narrow-linewidth laser light to create diatomic molecules of this class in an optical lattice at ultracold temperatures, determining their molecular binding energies to a greater precision than was previously achievable in molecular beam and heat-pipe studies. [2] This has the potential to furnish an ensemble of molecular clocks where quantized molecular vibrations determine the 'ticking' rate. [3]
Together with Robert Moszyński and her students, Zelevinsky settled a long-standing question about the role of quantum interference in the angular patterns of molecular photofragments. At a temperature of tens of millikelvin, the work constitutes one of the first clear demonstrations of quantum photochemistry. [4] Additionally, Zelevinsky is exploring ways to experimentally cool molecules in order to manipulate and study them using a combination of buffer gas cooling and laser cooling with the goal of creating magneto-optical traps of exotic gases. Zelevinsky is also one of the principal investigators of the CeNTREX collaboration with David DeMille to search for the deformation in the shape of atomic nuclei known as a Schiff moment using the thallium fluoride molecule.
While an undergraduate at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Zelevinsky attended a summer school on atomic physics in Los Alamos. She recalls this as an important part of her career and said "I really enjoyed the fact that only two or three investigators work on the experiments and that one can experience and understand the whole project". [5]
Deborah Shiu-lan Jin was an American physicist and fellow with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST); Professor Adjunct, Department of Physics at the University of Colorado; and a fellow of the JILA, a NIST joint laboratory with the University of Colorado.
An optical lattice is formed by the interference of counter-propagating laser beams, creating a spatially periodic polarization pattern. The resulting periodic potential may trap neutral atoms via the Stark shift. Atoms are cooled and congregate at the potential extrema. The resulting arrangement of trapped atoms resembles a crystal lattice and can be used for quantum simulation.
In condensed matter physics, an ultracold atom is an atom with a temperature near absolute zero. At such temperatures, an atom's quantum-mechanical properties become important.
Cryochemistry is the study of chemical interactions at temperatures below −150 °C. It is derived from the Greek word cryos, meaning 'cold'. It overlaps with many other sciences, including chemistry, cryobiology, condensed matter physics, and even astrochemistry.
An atomic clock is a clock that measures time by monitoring the resonant frequency of atoms. It is based on atoms having different energy levels. Electron states in an atom are associated with different energy levels, and in transitions between such states they interact with a very specific frequency of electromagnetic radiation. This phenomenon serves as the basis for the International System of Units' (SI) definition of a second:
The second, symbol s, is the SI unit of time. It is defined by taking the fixed numerical value of the caesium frequency, , the unperturbed ground-state hyperfine transition frequency of the caesium-133 atom, to be 9192631770 when expressed in the unit Hz, which is equal to s−1.
A quantum clock is a type of atomic clock with laser cooled single ions confined together in an electromagnetic ion trap. Developed in 2010 by physicists at the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology, the clock was 37 times more precise than the then-existing international standard. The quantum logic clock is based on an aluminium spectroscopy ion with a logic atom.
David P. DeMille is an American physicist and Professor of Physics at the University of Chicago. He is best known for his use of polar diatomic molecules to search for symmetry-violating effects within the molecules and as a means for manipulating the external properties of the molecules.
Ana Maria Rey is a Colombian theoretical physicist, professor at University of Colorado at Boulder, a JILA fellow, a fellow at National Institute of Standards and Technology and a fellow of the American Physical Society. Rey was the first Hispanic woman to win the Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists in 2019. In 2023, she was elected to the National Academy of Sciences. She is currently the chair of DAMOP, the American Physical Society's division in Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics (AMO).
Maciej Lewenstein, is a Polish theoretical physicist, currently an ICREA professor at ICFO – The Institute of Photonic Sciences in Castelldefels near Barcelona. He is an author of over 480 scientific articles and 2 books, and recipient of many international and national prizes. In addition to quantum physics his other passion is music, and jazz in particular. His collection of compact discs and vinyl records includes over 9000 items.
Jun Ye is a Chinese-American physicist at JILA, National Institute of Standards and Technology, and the University of Colorado Boulder, working primarily in the field of atomic, molecular, and optical physics.
National Laboratory of Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics is the national inter-university research center with the headquarters at Institute of Physics of Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, Poland. Established in 2002, the Laboratory is focused on atomic, molecular, and optical physics (AMO).
Bernhard Wilhelm Roth is a German experimental physicist.
Heather Lewandowski is a professor of physics at the University of Colorado Boulder. She looks to understand the quantum mechanical processes in making chemical bonds. She uses time-varying inhomogeneous electric fields to achieve supersonic cooling. She also studies how students learn experimental skills in instructional physics labs and help to improve student learning in these environments. She is a Fellow of the American Physical Society.
The I. I. Rabi Prize in Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics is given by the American Physical Society to recognize outstanding work by mid-career researchers in the field of atomic, molecular, and optical physics. The award was endowed in 1989 in honor of the physicist I. I. Rabi and has been awarded biannually since 1991.
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Gretchen K. Campbell is an American atomic, molecular, and optical physicist associated with the National Institute of Standards and Technology. She works in the field of atomtronics and has received awards in recognition of her research contributions on Bose-Einstein condensates.
Silke Ospelkaus-Schwarzer is a German experimental physicist who studies ultra-cold molecular materials at the University of Hanover Institute of Quantum Optics. She was awarded a European Research Council Consolidator Award in 2022.
Françoise Masnou-Seeuws is a French physicist, specializing in ultracold molecules. Masnou-Seeuws earned a doctorate in physics through Paris Diderot University in 1973. Subsequently, she became a director of research for the French National Centre for Scientific Research, posted to the Laboratoire Aimé Cotton in Orsay.
John Morrissey Doyle is an American physicist working in the field of Atomic, Molecular, and Optical (AMO) physics and Precision Particle Physics. He is the Henry B. Silsbee Professor of Physics, Director of the Japanese Undergraduate Research Exchange Program (JUREP), Co-Director of the Harvard Quantum Initiative as well as Co-director of the Ph.D. Program in Quantum Science and Engineering at Harvard University.