Dana Z. Anderson

Prof. Anderson is Founder and Chief Science Officer of Infleqtion, formerly ColdQuanta, Inc., a company that develops and manufactures atom-based quantum technology covering a broad spectrum of systems, including clocks, inertial sensors, RF sensors, networks, and quantum computers.  He received his Ph.D. in quantum optics working under Prof, Marlan Scully. He is currently a Fellow of the JILA Institute at the University of Colorado and a Professor of the Department of Physics and the Department of Electrical, Computer and Energy and Engineering at the University. He is an applied physicist working in the areas of quantum optics, atomic physics, and precision measurement.  Prof. Anderson has received several awards including a Presidential Young Investigator award, a Sloan Foundation Fellowship, a Humboldt Research Award, the Optical Society of America’s R.W. Wood Prize for his pioneering work on optical neural networks, the CO-LABS Governor’s Award for foundational contributions ultracold matter technology, and the Willis Lamb Prize for his pioneering contributions to atomtronics.

Title of keynote presentation:

Quantum Sensors and the Atom Analogs of Microwave Circuits

Abstract:

Atoms have established their utility in numerous sensing and measurement applications: from high-precision clocks and frequency references, to inertial sensors for positioning and navigation, to gravity and magnetic field sensors, to RF detectors, the spectrum of atom-based solutions is increasing over time. Often these quantum sensors achieve their exquisite performance using atoms that are cooled using laser light to ultracold temperatures (without liquid helium or cryostats).  “Ultracold” refers to temperatures near absolute zero, typically 1E-6 K and lower, where the behaviour of atoms is dominated by quantum mechanics rather than by thermodynamics.  Correspondingly, quantum noise rather than thermal noise dominates sensor performance.

This talk introduces a remarkably faithful and very fruitful analogue between microwave electronics and atom-based circuits.  Such “atomtronic” circuits, as they are called, may serve as a foundation for future sensor and signal processing systems based on atoms.  For this audience in particular, design principles based on tailoring impedance and the use of transistor action will be familiar, except they are applied here to atoms rather than to electrons.

The foundations begin with what can be called the “laws of atomtricity”, which are derived starting from seemingly abstract physics called “gauge field theory” applied to interacting identical particles.  Applying that theory to electrons one can derive Maxwell’s equations, taking as empirical fact that electromagnetic waves travel with speed c in vacuum, and are subject to a vacuum impedance of 377 .  Though atoms are neutral, they nevertheless interact through collisions.  When one applies gauge field theory to identical neutral atoms and take as empirical fact the matter-wave speed and impedance derived from the laws of quantum mechanics, a set of matter-wave duals to Maxwell’s equations arise. From them one can derive the matter-wave duals to Maxwell’s electromagnetic wave equations.  Continuing the analogy leads to the duals of electric current and voltage, i.e., atom current and “tronic potential” and a characteristic impedance that relates the two – interestingly but unsurprisingly, that impedance involves Planck’s constant.

While the laws of atomtricity are in some ways more complicated than those of electricity, many electronic circuit design principles nevertheless carry over nicely to atomtronics. In particular there exists the concept of an atomtronic transistor as a device that enables a weak signal to control the impedance of a large signal.  Thus one can consider the design of functional circuits such as amplifiers and oscillators, and other possibly useful circuits that utilize atoms rather than electrons.  It is fascinating to consider, though, that atomtronic devices like transistors are not made of matter — they are made of light.