The Physics Frontier Center is devoted to leading-edge experimental and theoretical investigation of ways to control and process quantum coherence and entanglement — the physics of quantum information. It is funded through a cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation and operated within the Joint Quantum Institute (JQI), a partnership between the University of Maryland (UMD) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), with additional support from the Laboratory for Physical Sciences.
JQI, headquartered on the UMD campus in College Park, MD, conducts a broad range of research programs in fundamental and applied quantum physics, in both theory and experiment. The PFC draws upon the expertise of all 26 JQI Fellows and their co-workers, and uses many JQI physical resources, in pursuing its three major research activities:
- Correlated and Topological Matter with Cold Atoms
- Supercircuits at the AMO/CM Interface
- Quantum Optics with Semiconductors and Atoms
The PFC is guided by a Research Council composed of five JQI Fellows. Members include the two PFC Co-Directors – William D. Phillips of NIST and Luis A. Orozco of UMD – as well as Gretchen Campbell (NIST), Sankar Das Sarma (UMD), Paul Julienne (NIST), Christopher Monroe (UMD) and Glenn Solomon (NIST).
The PFC project began on September 1, 2008. When fully operational, it will support 17 graduate students, seven postdoctoral researchers and seven undergraduates, and will undertake numerous educational and outreach efforts.