Ivan Kozyryev, Ph.D.

Ivan Kozyryev is a postdoctoral research scientist in the Department of Physics at Columbia University. He obtained his undergraduate degree in physics and applied mathematics at Yale University with distinction in both majors. Fascinated by the development of new experimental tools to understand and harness the complexity of individual quantum objects under extreme conditions, he pursued his Ph.D. in atomic, molecular and optical (AMO) physics at Harvard University. Throughout his dissertation research, Kozyryev focused on extending techniques of laser cooling and trapping to complex molecules with the goal of developing a novel experimental platform for quantum science — complex polyatomic molecules in the ultracold regime (<1 mK). Kozyryev was the first to demonstrate effects of radiation pressure force on polyatomic radicals and to achieve their direct laser cooling to sub-millikelvin temperatures. Probing such species in the quantum regime could aid in uncovering the fundamental scientific mysteries: the origins of biomolecular homochirality and of matter-antimatter asymmetry in our universe. For his Ph.D. work, Kozyryev received the Deborah Jin Award for outstanding thesis research in AMO physics by the American Physical Society.

During his postdoctoral fellowship at Columbia, he is planning to create ultracold exotic gases via laser cooling and precise dissociation of molecules. By developing bond-specific control of laser-cooled molecules, he strives to produce fundamental atomic and molecular gases, like H, OH, NH2 and CH3, at temperatures many orders of magnitude below the current records and study ultracold controlled chemistry.