Ike Uchenna Chukwu and Burkley Patterson were recently both named recipients of the 2014 IPST Monroe Martin Prize for Undergraduate Research in Physics.

Burkley's work was titled "Construction and Experiments with a Cavity QED system." He will be continuing his work, now as a graduate student, in Luis Orozco's Cavity QED experiment, which is supported by NSF.

Ike worked on a "Two-Dimensional Magneto-Optical Trap with Rubidium Atoms." His research was part of the "Atoms on Squids" experiment, which is supported by the NSF PFC@JQI.

http://jqi.umd.edu/news/two-jqi-undergraduates-honored-their-thesis-work

Antiferromagnetic spin-spin interactions are mediated and enhanced by electrons in a superconductor. Graphic credit, S. Kelley/E.Edwards

Jay Sau, in collaboration with physicists from Harvard and Yale, has been studying the effects of embedding magnetic spins onto the surface of a superconductor. They recently report in paper that was chosen as an "Editor's Suggestion" in Physical Review Letters, that the spins can interact differently than previously thought. This hybrid platform could be useful for quantum simulations of complex spin systems, having the special feature that the interactions may be controllable, something quite unusual for most condensed matter systems.

The textbook quantum system known as a spin can be realized in different physical platforms. Due to advances in fabrication and imaging, magnetic impurities embedded onto a substrate have emerged as an exciting prospect for studying spin physics. Quantum ‘spin’ is related to a particle’s intrinsic angular momentum. What’s neat is that while the concept is fairly abstract, numerous effects in nature, such as magnetism, map onto mathematical spin models.

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Imagine being able to instantaneously run an optical cable or fiber to any point on earth, or even into space. That’s what Howard Milchberg, professor of physics and electrical and computer engineering at the University of Maryland, wants to do.

In a paper published in the July 2014 issue of the journal Optica, Milchberg and his lab report using an “air waveguide” to enhance light signals collected from distant sources. These air waveguides could have many applications, including long-range laser communications, detecting pollution in the atmosphere, making high-resolution topographic maps and laser weapons.

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Sankar Das Sarma has been collaborating with Station Q for a decade and says "a quantum computer will do things we cannot possibly know now." Full Story