Colloquia

The interplay of local perturbations and interactions is key for understanding quantum many-body systems. We study lithium Fermi gases in time-dependent disorder, using speckle potentials with quenches or finite correlation times. [more]

Reconfigurable arrays of neutral atoms have emerged as a leading platform for quantum science. Their excellent coherence properties combined with programmable Rydberg interactions have led to intriguing observations such as quantum phase transitions, the discovery of quantum many-body scars, and novel quantum computing architectures. [more]

I will discuss advances in photonic computing architectures leveraging hardware noise as a computational resource. Using nanoscale phase-change materials allows in-memory processing of probabilistic data. Photonic crossbar arrays utilizing chaotic light as entropy sources enable parallel, energy-efficient, high-speed probabilistic machine learning beyond traditional hardware limits. [more]

Two energy levels of an atom can represent a binary bit of information. Quantum systems can also exist in “superposition states”, storing both states of the bit simultaneously - a quantum bit or “qubit.” N qubits could store 2N binary numbers yielding an exponential increase in memory and processing capacity. Qubit operations with trapped atomic ions are described, and could eventually lead to an analog of Schrödinger's famous cat. [more]

I will present our work developing optogenetic vision restoration technologies for blind patients with retinal degenerative diseases. I will discuss how we transform surviving retinal cells into photoreceptor-like cells capable of responding to light stimuli. Our approach has progressed from initial proof-of-concept studies in animal models to clinical applications in blind human patients, demonstrating meaningful visual perception restoration. [more]