Arts & Sciences Events
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Arts & Sciences
[PAST EVENT] Physics Colloquium
May 2, 2014
4pm - 5pm
Abstract:
Abstract: Precision metrology is the crown jewel of atomic, molecular and optical physics. It has played a key role in practical applications such as GPS, inertial navigation, and high speed communication. It has also played an important role in testing the fundamental laws of physics with ever increasing accuracy. In this talk, I will describe two new tools of precision metrology, with both practical and fundamental applications. First, I will describe the superluminal ring laser (SRL), inside which the group velocity of light may be as high as a million times larger than that of the vacuum speed of light, without violating causality or relativity. The SRL and related effects can be tailored to make ultra-sensitive sensors for practical applications, as well as for precision tests of General Relativity and detection of gravitational waves. Second, I will describe how interferometry at a Compton frequency as high as ten nonillion Hz (10^31 Hz) or a de Broglie wavelength as small as ten atto meter (10^-17 m) can be observed by measuring the collective states of an ensemble of a million non-interacting cold atoms, behaving as a single particle. I will describe how this process can be used to make novel types of atom interferometric gyroscope and accelerometers as well as atomic clocks, with enhancement in sensitivity over their conventional counterparts.
Biography: Dr. Selim Shahriar is a Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, and in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Northwestern University. He is also the Director of the division of solid state and photonics within EECS. Dr. Shahriar received his Ph.D. from MIT in 1992. He has published three hundred seventy six papers. His research interests include Applications of Slow and Fast Light, Quantum Computing with Trapped Atoms, Gravitational Wave Detection, Tests of General Relativity, Holographic and Polarimetric Image Processing, Nanophotonics, Atomic Clocks, Atom Interferometry, and Nanolithography using Bose Condensates. He is a member of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration and a Fellow of SPIE and OSA. Group URL: http://lapt.ece.northwestern.edu/
Abstract: Precision metrology is the crown jewel of atomic, molecular and optical physics. It has played a key role in practical applications such as GPS, inertial navigation, and high speed communication. It has also played an important role in testing the fundamental laws of physics with ever increasing accuracy. In this talk, I will describe two new tools of precision metrology, with both practical and fundamental applications. First, I will describe the superluminal ring laser (SRL), inside which the group velocity of light may be as high as a million times larger than that of the vacuum speed of light, without violating causality or relativity. The SRL and related effects can be tailored to make ultra-sensitive sensors for practical applications, as well as for precision tests of General Relativity and detection of gravitational waves. Second, I will describe how interferometry at a Compton frequency as high as ten nonillion Hz (10^31 Hz) or a de Broglie wavelength as small as ten atto meter (10^-17 m) can be observed by measuring the collective states of an ensemble of a million non-interacting cold atoms, behaving as a single particle. I will describe how this process can be used to make novel types of atom interferometric gyroscope and accelerometers as well as atomic clocks, with enhancement in sensitivity over their conventional counterparts.
Biography: Dr. Selim Shahriar is a Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, and in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Northwestern University. He is also the Director of the division of solid state and photonics within EECS. Dr. Shahriar received his Ph.D. from MIT in 1992. He has published three hundred seventy six papers. His research interests include Applications of Slow and Fast Light, Quantum Computing with Trapped Atoms, Gravitational Wave Detection, Tests of General Relativity, Holographic and Polarimetric Image Processing, Nanophotonics, Atomic Clocks, Atom Interferometry, and Nanolithography using Bose Condensates. He is a member of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration and a Fellow of SPIE and OSA. Group URL: http://lapt.ece.northwestern.edu/