Research / five connected programs

Quantum control as a tool for discovery

Our experiments span nuclei, atoms, ions, and molecules. Across those scales, the common aim is precise: understand quantum interactions deeply enough to use them for new measurements, new technologies, and new tests of nature.

01Quantum standards

Thorium-229 nuclear clock

The thorium-229 isomer is the lowest-energy known nuclear excited state and can be addressed with table-top laser technology. We investigate trapped-ion and solid-state architectures, the microscopic physics of clock host materials, and new spectroscopic techniques that turn this unusual nucleus into both a precision clock and a probe of its environment.

Selected Publications

Solid-state and trapped-ion clock architectures
Laser Mössbauer and conversion-electron spectroscopy
Host-material shifts, defects, and quenching channels

An illuminated crystal glowing pink and blue in the laboratory — Materials for precision spectroscopyA crystal under illumination

02Quantum information

Molecular quantum logic

Molecules offer rich internal structure, but that same complexity makes conventional optical control difficult. Electric-field gradient gates address low-lying molecular transitions with radio-frequency and microwave fields, opening a path to quantum logic, state detection, and precision spectroscopy without the photon-scattering limits of laser-driven gates.

Selected Publications

Electric-field gradient gates (EGGs)
Cryogenic HCl⁺ / Ca⁺ quantum-logic platform
Quantum-enabled molecular mass spectrometry

The molecular quantum logic ion trap with an inset showing calcium and hydrogen chloride ions — A controlled environment for ions and moleculesInside the apparatus

03Precision measurement

Wideband quantum sensing

Motional Raman transitions down-convert an arbitrary-frequency electric field into a measurable displacement of a trapped ion. We use this interaction for complete waveform sensing, quantum amplification, super-resolution, and nonlinear protocols that improve precision beyond familiar linear limits.

Selected Publications

Quantum vector signal analysis
Nonlinearity-enhanced frequency sensing
Broadband super-resolution and quantum amplification

A researcher surrounded by illuminated optics and laboratory instruments — Optics, electronics, and quantum controlMeasurement in progress

04Controlled matter

Cold chemistry & complex molecules

Hybrid traps and cold molecular beams reveal chemical dynamics in a regime where individual quantum states matter. In parallel, we study how optical cycling survives as molecules grow larger—work that may bring direct laser cooling and high-fidelity state detection to a new class of molecular systems.

Selected Publications

Cold atom–ion and molecule–ion reactions
Optical cycling in functionalized arenes
Cold beams of polyatomic molecules

05Trapped-ion systems

Barium-133 qubits

Barium-133 combines a clock-state qubit with visible-wavelength transitions for initialization and detection. Together with collaborators, we develop the isotope’s control toolbox, scalable optical delivery, and methods that protect coherence while simplifying the hardware required for trapped-ion quantum processing.

Selected Publications

Clock-state quantum control
Broadband integrated photonics
High-fidelity initialization and readout

06Collaborative search

HUNTER sterile-neutrino search

HUNTER brings atomic, nuclear, and particle physicists together to search for keV-scale sterile neutrinos through energy–momentum reconstruction of electron-capture decays in a laser-cooled radioactive source.

Selected Publications

Laser-cooled radioactive atoms
Precision decay reconstruction
Searches for dark-matter candidates

Community / UCLA

Quantum matter in Los Angeles

The group is part of a broad UCLA community working across atomic, molecular, optical, condensed-matter, chemical, and quantum-information science.

Center for Quantum Science & Engineering