Research
My group makes measurements on atoms and molecules to look for cracks in the structure of physical laws. Our projects involve
- searching for the electron electric dipole moment
- building new kinds of atomic clocks
- testing quantum electrodynamics using hydrogen
Recent work
- BaF molecules trapped in neon ice (2022)
- Electron electric dipole moment searches using clock transitions in ultracold molecules, Phys. Rev. Lett. (2020)
- Nd+ isotope shift measurements in a cryogenically-cooled neutral plasma, Phys. Rev. A (2020)
- Improved estimate of the collisional frequency shift in Al+ clocks, Phys. Rev. Research (2019)
- A measurement of the atomic hydrogen Lamb shift and the proton charge radius, Science (2019)
Perspective: Progress on the proton-radius puzzle
- Direct observation of a highly forbidden optical transition in Sm:SrF2, Phys. Rev. A (2019)
- Cold, dense, atomic ion clouds produced by cryogenic buffer-gas cooling, Phys. Rev. A (2019)
- Magic polarization for light shift cancellation in two-photon optical clocks, Phys. Rev. A (2019)
Selected older publications
- Collisional frequency shift of a trapped-ion optical clock, Phys. Rev. A (2017)
- Frequency-offset separated oscillatory fields, Phys. Rev. A (2015)
- Optical frequency standards for gravitational wave detection using satellite Doppler velocimetry, New. J. Phys. (2015)
- Order of magnitude smaller limit on the electric dipole moment of the electron, Science (2014)
- Search for the electric dipole moment of the electron with thorium monoxide, J. Phys. B (2010)
Designs
Code and hardware designs developed in my group are freely available at github.com/vuthalab.
Diversions
Perhaps you are here for my list of content-free phrases?
Teaching
I have taught the following courses:- PHY 2202: Atomic and molecular physics
- PHY 385: Optics
- PHY 256: Introduction to quantum physics
- PHY 180: Mechanics
- PHY 2205: Fundamental Physics using AMO Techniques
- PHY 2204: Quantum Optics II
- PHY 405: Electronics Lab
Contact
MP 033 (lab), MP 1121 (office)Department of Physics
University of Toronto
60 St. George Street
Toronto ON M5S 1A7, Canada
Phone: +1 416 946 8503
Email: amar.vutha Ͽ utoronto.ca
'MP' is the McLennan Physics building, in the downtown campus. I am proud to work in a building named after an actual physicist.
Support
Team
- Shira Jackson
- Kristen Cote
- Harish Ramachandran
- Takahiro Tow
- Dr. Scott Smale
- Julia Ford

Alumni
- Samuel Li → Princeton
- Dr. Rhys Anderson → Google
- Reynold Chan → U Illinois
- Dr. Kosuke Kato → National Research Council
- Nishant Bhatt, PhD → PTB, Germany
- Mohit Verma → U Chicago
- Jinsoo Park → Queens U
- Luca Talamo → U Colorado
- Jack Davis → U Waterloo
- Hiromitsu Sawaoka → Harvard
- Wesley Cassidy → U British Columbia
- Dr. Shreyas Potnis → Google
- Dr. Graham Edge → JW Player
- Jenny Wu → U Colorado