Precision Measurement
In a new study, researchers led by JILA and NIST Fellow Jun Ye have shown how to make atomic clocks even more precise by leveraging entanglement. This allows the atoms to “tick” more in sync, reducing the randomness that usually limits how precisely we can measure time.
Their results show that it’s possible to go beyond what’s known as the Standard Quantum Limit (SQL)—a fundamental barrier in quantum measurements—by using a technique called spin squeezing. This work could help improve everything from GPS systems to tests of gravity and the nature of the universe.
Jun Ye's research group has developed a groundbreaking laser system with record-breaking stability, crucial for advancing quantum technologies. By combining a highly stable silicon cavity laser with a frequency comb and a secondary cavity tuned for strontium atoms, the researchers created a laser capable of manipulating quantum states with unprecedented precision. Their system significantly reduces frequency noise, a major hurdle in quantum experiments, and demonstrated its effectiveness by achieving a new fidelity record in quantum gate operations on 3000 neutral atom qubits. This innovation paves the way for more accurate atomic clocks and scalable quantum computing.
JILA is proud to announce that Chuankun Zhang, a former graduate student in ̽Ƶ Physics professor and JILA and NIST Fellow Jun Ye’s research group, has been named a recipient of the prestigious 2025 Boeing Quantum Creators Prize. This national honor recognizes early-career researchers whose work is propelling quantum science and engineering in bold new directions.
In a groundbreaking study researchers at JILA have demonstrated continuous lasing and strong atom-cavity coupling using laser-cooled strontium atoms. This innovative experiment opens new avenues for precision measurement and quantum technologies, promising advancements in quantum sensing and metrology.
The first Bose-Einstein Condensate (BEC) was first created by Eric Cornell, Carl Wieman, Mike Anderson, Jason Ensher, and Michael Matthews on June 5, 1995 in JILA at the University of Colorado Boulder. This new state of matter was first predicted 70 years earlier. Satyendra Nath Bose first described the quantum statistics of what we now call bosons, and Albert Einstein extended the theory to show that non-interacting bosons could condense into a single macroscopic quantum state at low temperature.
In a recent study published in Science, by JILA and NIST Fellows and University of Colorado Boulder physics professors Jun Ye and Ana Maria Rey, interactions between atoms are explored in depth, focusing on superexchange processes that occur in a three-dimensional optical lattice.
The strange behaviors of high-temperature superconductors—materials that conduct electricity without resistance above the boiling point of liquid nitrogen—and other systems with unusual magnetic properties have fascinated scientists for decades. While researchers have developed mathematical models for these systems, much of the underlying quantum dynamics and phases remain a mystery because of the immense computational difficulty of solving these models.
Jun Ye, a distinguished Fellow at JILA and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and a physics professor at the University of Colorado Boulder, has been honored with the 2025 Berthold Leibinger Zukunftspreis.
With the recent launch of NASA's Europa Clipper, science takes a bold step closer to answering one of its most profound questions: could the building blocks for life exist beyond Earth? Aboard the spacecraft is the Surface Dust Analyzer (SUDA), a cutting-edge instrument designed to analyze tiny particles ejected from Europa's icy surface. These particles could provide crucial insights into the moon's hidden ocean and its potential to support life.
At the heart of this revolutionary instrument lies a critical component developed by LASP (the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics) with assistance from JILA’s W.M. Keck Lab: an iridium-coated titanium target that makes the high-precision analysis of cosmic dust possible. While LASP designed and built the instrument, their collaboration with JILA highlights the abilities of the University of Colorado Boulder’s institutes to tackle complex scientific and engineering challenges, advancing our understanding of the solar system and pushing the boundaries of exploration.
Researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder have developed a novel method to measure magnetic field orientations using atoms as minuscule compasses. The research, a collaboration between JILA Fellow and ̽Ƶ physics professor Cindy Regal and Svenja Knappe, a research professor in the Paul M. Rady Department of Mechanical Engineering, was recently published as the cover article in the journal Optica.