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Quantum Optics

The Quantum Optics cluster includes researchers working in the fields of AMO (atomic, molecular, and optical) physics, Quantum Information, Laser Science, Plasma Physics, and some parts of Condensed Matter Physics.

Topics of study include: the properties of light; fundamentals of quantum mechanics; the interaction of light with photonic crystals, semiconductors, quantum wells and superlattices; ultrafast and nonlinear optical phenomena in condensed matter systems; Bose-Einstein condensation and neutral Fermi gases; trapped ions; plasma physics; and studies of biological systems using optical probes. Such a wide variety of interests are drawn together by a common focus on lasers as primary experimental tools, and on quantum mechanics as the primary theoretical paradigm.

Research Areas

Nonlinear Optics and Ultrafast Lasers

Experiment: Robin MarjoribanksDwayne Miller, Aephraim Steinberg
Theory: Daniel JamesSajeev JohnJohn Sipe

Photonic Materials and Resonant Optical Structures

Theory: Sajeev JohnJohn Sipe

Precision Spectroscopy

Experiment: Boris Braverman, Amar Vutha

Quantum Information

Experiment: Boris Braverman, Aephraim SteinbergHoi-Kwong Lo

Theory: Daniel JamesHoi-Kwong LoJohn Sipe

Ultra-intense Laser-matter Interaction

Experiment: Robin Marjoribanks

See also the research topics listed on the condensed matter and biological physics pages, which include QO faculty.

Seminars

The QO/AMO (quantum optics and atomic, molecular, and optical physics) seminar is held regularly during the academic year, usually on Fridays at 11:10 am.

Our Quantum Information seminar is held on Friday mornings at 11:10 am, often in the Fields Institute (222 College St), and is affiliated with the  Centre for Quantum Information and Quantum Control. The QuInf seminar ongoing work and ideas about quantum computation, cryptography, teleportation, et cetera. We hope to bring together interested parties from a variety of different backgrounds, including math, computer science, physics, chemistry, and engineering, to share ideas as well as open questions.

You also might also see the photos from our internal research symposium, sometimes held at the end of the summer.

Affiliations

Our activities are quite interdisciplinary, overlapping with other clusters in the department — condensed matter and biophysics — and bridging to other departments, including chemistrymathematics, and electrical engineering. Our members participate in two different programs of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research: Quantum Materials and Quantum Information Processing. Many of the group are founding members of the Centre for Quantum Information and Quantum Control.