Making Quantum States of Light With Moving Mirrors

  • Speaker
  • headshot of cindy regalCindy Regal, Ph.D.Associate Professor of Physics, Baur-SPIE Professor at JILA, University of Colorado Boulder
Date & Time


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Over the last few decades, experimental physicists have observed quantum effects in the vibrations of mechanical resonators in a surprising range of experiments and sizes of objects. Achieving the quantum regime with the tangible motion of solid objects has piqued physicists’ curiosity and enabled new approaches to difficult tasks in manipulating quantum information.

In this lecture, Cindy Regal will present experiments that measure the motion of drumlike mirrors and discuss how the experiments evolved from a rich history of read-out and control in quantum optics and precision measurement. She will highlight her team’s current efforts to use mechanical motion as a link between quantum states in disparate parts of the electromagnetic spectrum.

About the Speaker

headshot of cindy regal

Regal is the Baur-SPIE associate professor of physics at the University of Colorado and a fellow of JILA, a joint institute between CU Boulder and the National Institutes of Standards and Technology. Her work in experimental quantum science has developed new platforms for the optical manipulation of both atoms and the vibrations of solids. She is a fellow of the American Physical Society and has received scientific awards, including a Presidential Early Career Award and a Packard Fellowship.

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