justin schultz
Fulbright Postgraduate Scholar
The quest for more precise measurements lies at the heart of much of the current technological revolution.
Justin Schultz, from Juniata College, has won a Fulbright Postgraduate Scholarship from the Australian-American Fulbright Commission to undertake research at the ACR COE for Quantum-Atoms Optics at the Australian National University (ANU) in Canberra with Associate Professor John Close.
Justin’s research, A High Finesse Cavity for a squeezed Atom Laser, proposes building a high-finesse cavity capable of detecting the reduced quantum noise on a squeezed atom laser. “The cavity detector for atoms will run at the photonic quantum noise limit and will record the arrival of single atoms from the squeezed atom laser as they pass through an optical beam,” explains Justin.
“Recent experiments have shown the ability to reduce the noise in optical beams below the standard quantum limit in a process referred to as ‘squeezing’. Squeezed atom lasers can be created by transferring the properties of squeezed light onto an atomic beam. However, a high finesse cavity for single atom detection is necessary to properly study and characterize the atom laser.”
Justin explains that most of our communications and measurement technology is based upon the manipulation of laser light, but recently physicists have gained similar control over atoms with the development of Bose Einstein condensates and atom lasers.
“The effects of gravity, rotations, and external fields are stronger on atoms than on light. The squeezed atom laser is the enabling technology for vastly improved gyroscopes—allowing inertial navigation on submarines and in space where satellite navigation cannot be used.”
“Additionally, atom lasers will also enable more sensitive gravity gradiometry, a critical technology in minerals exploration. The cavity detector I will build will run at the photonic quantum noise limit and will register the arrival of single atoms as they pass through the optical beam.”
On completing his Fulbright, Justin plans to become a full-time graduate student in the U.S. studying physics in pursuit of a PhD and would like to become an experimental researcher in the fields of quantum optics, quantum computing, or atomic and molecular optics .
Justin’s academic performance in this area has been recognised with an NIST Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship; a Research Fellowship with Juniata College Physics Department in the summer of 2006; Goldwater Scholarship Honorable Mention; and St. Andrew's Society Scholarship.