Boston Chapter of the IEEE Photonics Society

Abstract:  Complete control of the internal and external degrees of freedom of molecules is only possible in the ultracold regime. This kind of control has already been achieved with atomic species (ions and neutrals), leading to great progress in quantum computation, simulation, searches for physics beyond the Standard Model, novel collisions and chemical reactions. Ultracold and cold molecules are a current frontier in science.

Creating cold and ultracold polyatomic molecules presents new laboratory challenges along with the promise to open up new territory in chemistry and physics. In our lab, we are taking two approaches to this goal. One approach is to create cold (1K) polyatomic molecules with the aim of trapping them and then lowering their temperature through collisions. Our other approach is to seek laser cooling of polyatomic molecules.  One of our key long-term scientific goals is to achieve for polyatomic molecules the kind of single-state control now available with atoms, eventually with a very wide chemical variety of molecules.

In order to illustrate the possible impact of science using cooled molecules, I will present recent work that employs cold molecules to 1) search for physics beyond the Standard Model (TeV range new particles) and 2) directly and sensitively detect the chirality of molecules.

Biography:  John Doyle obtained his PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is the Henry B. Silsbee Professor of Physics at Harvard University, the director of the Harvard Center for Quantum Optics, and co-director of the Harvard/MIT Center for Ultracold Atoms. He has published over one hundred refereed papers in the areas of ultracold atoms, molecules, spectroscopy, precision measurement, neutrons and dark matter detection and supervised the PhDs of over thirty students. He is a Humboldt, Fulbright, and American Physical Society Fellow.

Location:  MIT Lincoln Laboratory Forbes Road