Manipulating
Quantum Systems

AN ASSESSMENT OF ATOMIC, MOLECULAR, AND
OPTICAL PHYSICS IN THE UNITED STATES

Committee on Decadal Assessment and Outlook Report on Atomic,
Molecular, and Optical Science

Board on Physics and Astronomy

Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences

A Consensus Study Report of

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This study is based on work supported by Contracts DE-SC0018414 with the Department of Energy, 1642381 with the National Science Foundation, and FA9550-19-1-0045 with the Air Force Office of Scientific Research. This report was prepared as an account of work sponsored by an agency of the U.S. government. Neither the U.S. government nor any agency thereof, nor any of their employees, makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference herein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the U.S. government or any agency thereof. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of any agency or organization that provided support for the project.

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International Standard Book Number-13: 978-0-309-49951-4
International Standard Book Number-10: 0-309-49951-8
Digital Object Identifier: https://doi.org/10.17226/25613
Library of Congress Control Number: 2020938871

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Suggested citation: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2020. Manipulating Quantum Systems: An Assessment of Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics in the United States. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/25613.

COMMITTEE ON DECADAL ASSESSMENT AND OUTLOOK REPORT ON ATOMIC, MOLECULAR, AND OPTICAL SCIENCE

JUN YE, NAS,¹ JILA, National Institute of Standards and Technology, and University of Colorado, Co-Chair

NERGIS MAVALVALA, NAS, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Co-Chair

RAYMOND G. BEAUSOLEIL, Hewlett Packard Labs

PATRICIA M. DEHMER, Department of Energy (retired)

LOUIS DIMAURO, The Ohio State University

METTE GAARDE, Louisiana State University

STEVEN GIRVIN, NAS, Yale Quantum Institute

CHRIS H. GREENE, NAS, Purdue University

TAEKJIP HA, NAS, Johns Hopkins University

MARK KASEVICH, Stanford University

MICHAL LIPSON, Columbia University

MIKHAIL LUKIN, NAS, Harvard University

A. MARJATTA LYYRA, Temple University

PETER J. REYNOLDS, Army Research Office

MARIANNA SAFRONOVA, University of Delaware

PETER ZOLLER, NAS, University of Innsbruck

Staff

CHRISTOPHER J. JONES, Program Officer, Study Director

JAMES C. LANCASTER, Director, Board on Physics and Astronomy

NEERAJ P. GORKHALY, Associate Program Officer

NATHAN BOLL, Associate Program Officer (until April 2019)

LINDA WALKER, Program Coordinator

AMISHA JINANDRA, Research Associate

BETH DOLAN, Financial Associate

HENRY KO, Research Associate (until January 2019)

___________________

¹ Member of the National Academy of Sciences.

BOARD ON PHYSICS AND ASTRONOMY

ABRAHAM LOEB, Harvard University, Chair

ANDREW LANKFORD, University of California, Irvine, Vice Chair

WILLIAM BIALEK, NAS,¹ Princeton University

JILL DAHLBURG, Naval Research Laboratory

FRANCIS DESALVO, Cornell University

LOUIS DIMAURO, The Ohio State University

WENDY FREEDMAN, NAS, University of Chicago

TIM HECKMAN, NAS, Johns Hopkins University

WENDELL HILL III, University of Maryland

ALAN HURD, Los Alamos National Laboratory

NERGIS MAVALVALA, NAS, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

LYMAN PAGE, JR., NAS, Princeton University

STEVEN RITZ, University of California, Santa Cruz

SUNIL SINHA, University of California, San Diego

WILLIAM ZAJC, Columbia University

Staff

JAMES C. LANCASTER, Director

GREGORY MACK, Senior Program Officer

CHRISTOPHER J. JONES, Program Officer

NEERAJ P. GORKHALY, Associate Program Officer

BETH DOLAN, Financial Associate

AMISHA JINANDRA, Research Associate

LINDA WALKER, Program Coordinator

___________________

¹ Member of the National Academy of Sciences.

Preface

This report is an accounting of the “AMO 2020” decadal study undertaken by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to assess opportunities in AMO (atomic, molecular, and optical) science and technology over the coming decade. The charge for this study was devised by a Board on Physics and Astronomy standing committee, the Committee on Decadal Assessment and Outlook Report on Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Science, in consultation with the study’s sponsors, the Department of Energy (DOE), the National Science Foundation (NSF), and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR). The main task for the committee is to provide insights for both scientists and agencies in finding opportunities to advance established and emerging areas of AMO, through funding, education, and industrial partnerships.

The Committee on AMO 2020, which carried out the study, was asked to assess the state of the field of AMO science, emphasizing recent accomplishments and identifying new and compelling scientific questions and opportunities. The committee that carried out this study and wrote this report comprised leaders from many different subfields within the AMO physics community, as well as prominent scientists from outside the field. By highlighting a summary review of the field of AMO science as a whole, the committee describes opportunities for scientific discoveries and new technological development. The report is structured around scientific grand challenges, with science goals, tool development, and research impact interleaved throughout the main science chapters. These summaries are intended as a guideline to identify the impacts of AMO science, now and in the coming decade, on emerging technologies and in meeting national needs.

The committee held five in-person meetings and numerous teleconferences among members to provide input, receive feedback, deliberate findings, and collaborate on writing. In addition, the committee received valuable input in the form of presentations from the following colleagues during some of the in-person meetings: Phil Bucksbaum, Paul Corkum, Dave DeMille, Emily Domenech, Markus Greiner, Anna Krylov, Steve Leone, Chris Monroe, Oskar Painter, Adam Rosenberg, Daniel Savin, and Jelena Vuckovic. The following individuals also provided perspective from the federal agencies: John Gillaspy (NSF/Mathematical and Physical Sciences [MPS]), Grace Metcalf (AFOSR), and Tom Settersten (DOE/Chemical Sciences, Geosciences, and Biosciences [CSGB]).

Significant effort was made to solicit community input for this study. This was done via town hall meetings held at the Annual Meeting of the Division of AMO Physics of the American Physical Society (APS) in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, in May 2018 and the Frontiers in Optics Conference hosted by the Optical Society of America and co-sponsored by APS, Division of Laser Science in September 2018 in Washington, D.C. The committee also solicited input from the community through a public website and received many white papers. The comments supplied by the AMO community through this site and at the town hall meetings were extremely valuable primary input to the committee. The committee also consulted a number of reports concerning the connection of AMO science to photonics, quantum information, and space-related activities. The committee acknowledges valuable input from the following colleagues: Alain Aspect, Paul Baker, Louis Barbier, Lisa Barsotti, Klaus Bartschat, Scott Bergeson, Klaus Blaum, Brad Blakestad, Immanuel Bloch, Doerte Blume, Stephen Boppart, Steven Boxer, Igor Bray, Paul Brumer, Dmitry Budker, Jaime Cardenas, Jenna Chan, Ignacio Cirac, Eric Cornell, Steve Cundiff, Tatjana Curcic, Brian DeMarco, John Doyle, Francesca Ferlaino, Debra Fischer, Graham Fleming, Nathan Goldman, Barbara Goldstein, Rudolf Grimm, Christian Gross, Richard Hammond, Ulrich Höfer, Matt Hourihan, Liang Jiang, Sabre Kais, Henry Kapteyn, Wolfgang Ketterle, Thomas Killian, Derek Jackson Kimball, H. Jeff Kimble, Tobias Kippenberg, David Kleinfeld, Svetlana Kotochigova, Ferenc Krausz, Anne L’Huillier, Todd Martinez, C. William McCurdy, William Moerner, Sarah Monk, Margaret Murnane, Frank Narducci, David Newell, Kang-Kuen Ni, Tilman Pfau, Nathalie Picque, Johannes Reimann, David Reis, Ana Maria Rey, Tara Ruttley, Dan Stamper-Kurn, Marc Ulrich, Pieter van Dokkum, Vladan Vuletic, Ronald Walsworth, Andrew Weiner, Jonathan Wheeler, Tommy Willis, Norm Yao, and Linda Young.

The national organizations and federal agencies that support AMO research in the United States were also solicited for input, through their direct testimony at open meetings and their written responses to requests for information on funding patterns, demographic information, and other statistical data. These data are summarized in Chapter 8 and in the appendixes to the report. The committee is

also grateful to the staff from the committees in Congress concerned with funding legislation, who provided important background on connections between AMO science and national science policy.

The AMO field continues to progress at an exciting pace for both scientific discoveries and technological innovations. The increasingly stronger and pervasive connections to many disciplines of physical and biological sciences have made AMO a cornerstone for modern science and emerging technologies, and we note particularly the fundamental role AMO plays in shaping the ongoing revolution in the field of quantum information science and technology. AMO has become a vital engine for current and future economic development. It is the collective enthusiasm and optimism of the AMO scientific community that helped make writing this report a pleasant and rewarding task. The committee gratefully acknowledges the infinite talent, expertise, and tireless efforts of our committee members, who contributed enormously to the success of this report, as well as valuable contributions from many colleagues from our community. The committee is grateful to Tom O’Brian and the National Institute of Standards and Technology for strong support for the committee activities. Last, the committee expresses its sincere gratitude to Chris Jones for his dedication, expertise, and organizational skills, to Jim Lancaster for his insights and guidance, and to the National Academy of Sciences staff for their many important contributions to data analysis during the writing of this report. The committee is also deeply grateful for the partnership between the co-chairs that made this study a fulfilling and enjoyable process.

Acknowledgment of Reviewers

This Consensus Study Report was reviewed in draft form by individuals chosen for their diverse perspectives and technical expertise. The purpose of this independent review is to provide candid and critical comments that will assist the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine in making each published report as sound as possible and to ensure that it meets the institutional standards for quality, objectivity, evidence, and responsiveness to the study charge. The review comments and draft manuscript remain confidential to protect the integrity of the deliberative process.

We thank the following individuals for their review of this report:

___________________

¹ Member, National Academy of Sciences.

² Member, National Academy of Engineering.

Although the reviewers listed above provided many constructive comments and suggestions, they were not asked to endorse the conclusions or recommendations of this report nor did they see the final draft before its release. The review of this report was overseen by Julia M. Phillips, NAE, Sandia National Laboratories, and David J. Wineland, NAS, University of Oregon. They were responsible for making certain that an independent examination of this report was carried out in accordance with the standards of the National Academies and that all review comments were carefully considered. Responsibility for the final content rests entirely with the authoring committee and the National Academies.

Contents

SUMMARY

1 MANIPULATING QUANTUM SYSTEMS: AMO SCIENCE IN THE COMING DECADE

Introduction and Overview

Chapter 2: Tools Made of Light

Chapter 3: Emerging Phenomena from Few- to Many-Body Systems

Chapter 4: Foundations of Quantum Information Science and Technology

Chapter 5: Harnessing Quantum Dynamics in the Time and Frequency Domains

Chapter 6: Precision Frontier and Fundamental Nature of the Universe

Chapter 7: Broader Impact of AMO Science

Chapter 8: AMO Science: Part of the U.S. Economic and Societal Ecosystem

AMO Science and National Policies: Conclusions and Recommendations

Main Findings and Recommendations

Chapter-Level Findings and Recommendations

2 TOOLS MADE OF LIGHT

Generating Light with Extreme Properties

Manipulating the Properties of Light

Emerging Platforms

Harnessing the Properties of Light

The Future for New Tools Made of Light

Findings and Recommendations

3 EMERGING PHENOMENA FROM FEW- TO MANY-BODY SYSTEMS

Introduction

From Few Bodies to Many Bodies: How Complexity Builds

Ultracold Physical Processes Involving Ions

Developments with Atomic Degenerate Quantum Gases

Many-Body Systems with Ultracold Molecules

Analog Quantum Simulation of Strongly Correlated Quantum Many-Body Systems

Summary of Opportunities and Recommendations

4 FOUNDATIONS OF QUANTUM INFORMATION SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Introduction

Understanding, Probing, and Using Entanglement

Controlling Quantum Many-Body Systems

Controlled Many-Body Systems for Quantum Simulations

Bell Inequalities, Quantum Communication, and Quantum Networks

Quantum Information Science for Sensing and Metrology

Grand Challenges and Opportunities

Findings and Recommendations

5 HARNESSING QUANTUM DYNAMICS IN THE TIME AND FREQUENCY DOMAINS

Challenges and Opportunities

Attosecond Science: The Time Scale of the Electron

The Molecular Time Scale: Femto- to Picoseconds

Frequency-Domain Approaches to Dynamics: Collisions and Correlations

Novel Physics with Extreme Light

Findings and Recommendations

6 PRECISION FRONTIER AND FUNDAMENTAL NATURE OF THE UNIVERSE

Introduction

Crisis of Modern Fundamental Physics

Precision Measurement Technologies

The Role of Theory and Recent Theory Progress

Searches for New Physics Beyond the Standard Model

Fundamental Constants and Measurement Standards

Summary, Discovery Potential, and Grand Challenges

Findings and Recommendations

7 BROADER IMPACT OF AMO SCIENCE

The Life Sciences and AMO

Astronomy, Astrophysics, Gravitation, Cosmology, and AMO

Statistical Physics, Quantum Thermalization, Emergence of the Classical World, and AMO

Condensed Matter and AMO

Advanced Accelerator Concepts

Integrated Optics and AMO

AMO and Economic Opportunities

Jointly Sponsored Interdisciplinary Research Laboratories

Findings and Recommendations

8 ATOMIC, MOLECULAR, AND OPTICAL SCIENCE: PART OF THE U.S. ECONOMIC AND SOCIETAL ECOSYSTEM

Investments in AMO Research: Funding, Collaboration, and Coordination

Workforce, Educational, and Societal Needs

Findings and Recommendations: Realizing the Full Potential of AMO Science

Closing Remarks

APPENDIXES

A Statement of Task

B Organization of the Report

C Reprise of Past National Academies Reports on AMO Science

D Committee Biographical Information

E Data Solicitation and Collection

F Acronyms