William D. Phillips
National Institute of Standards and Technology
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Primary Section: 13, Physics Secondary Section: 33, Applied Physical Sciences Membership Type:
Member
(elected 1997)
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Research Interests
Laser cooling of atoms; trapping of atoms in laser, magnetic, and microwave fields; the study of Bose-Einstein condensation of cold atomic gases; ultracold atoms trapped in optical lattices, including the study of interacting, quantum degenerate gases in one, two and three-dimensions; the study of collisions between laser-cooled atoms and between atoms in a BEC, including photoassociative spectroscopy and the precision determination of atomic lifetimes and scattering lengths; the use of laser-cooled atoms in atomic frequency standards, including atomic fountain clocks; atom optics and atom lasers-the study coherent atomic deBroglie waves and their use in devices like interferometers; microgravity applications of laser-cooled and quantum degenerate atoms, including atomic clocks and atomic interferometry; quantum information, in which cold atoms are used as qubits; quantum simulation, in which ultracold atoms are used as quantum objects to realize model Hamiltonians used to describe more complex systems; creation and use of synthetic fields for cold neutral atoms; atomtronic circuitry, in which neutral atoms play a role analogous to that of electrons in electronic circuitry; foundations and implementation of the International System of Units, based on fixing values of natural constants.
