Jack Harris, Yale University, Single Phonon Quantum Acoustics with Superfluid Helium

Zoom Details

Seminar
2:00 pm - 3:00 pm

https://ucsb.zoom.us/j/89680307789?pwd=amRyMHZtSks2L2ZVS2lldW5Yc0JDQT09

Meeting ID:896 8030 7789, Password: qfSeminar

Speaker

Jack Harris
Department of Physics
Yale University

Bio

I am a native of NYC. I grew up on the island of Martha's Vineyard. I got my undergradaute degree from Cornell University in 1994, and my Ph.D. from UCSB (with David Awschalom) in 2000. I was a postdoc at the Harvard/MIT Center for Ultracold Atoms (working with John Doyle and Wolfgang Ketterle) from 2001 - 2004. Since then I have been on the faculty at Yale University. The honors I've received include the DARPA Young Faculty Award, APS Fellowship, and the Vannevar Bush Faculty Fellowship.

Abstract

Quantum effects in acoustic degrees of freedom offer exciting opportunities in sensing, control, and information processing, as well as in studies of fundamental physics. To date, much progress in this field has been made with systems whose dynamics is essentially linear (this includes the realization of acoustic oscillators in their ground state or in squeezed states, and the observation of entanglement among acoustic and electromagnetic modes). However, these systems' linearity precludes access to "stronger" quantum effects that would offer true performance enhancement and tests of quantum mechanics in new regimes. One route to realizing nonlinear quantum acoustics is based on the back-action of single photon detectors. In this talk, I will describe our use of this approach to detect and control individual phonons in a nanogram-scale body of superfluid helium. I will also described the future prospects of superfluid-based quantum acoustic systems.