Probing Driven Quantum Gases and Enhancing Professional Development Pathways at a Minority Serving Institution
Abstract
When the position of one of the mirrors in a resonant optical cavity is strongly modulated, theory predicts exponential concentration of optical energy. Strikingly, photons in such a driven cavity stroboscopically obey the equations for light propagating in a curved spacetime. This prediction has been theoretically explored for nearly 50 years but has resisted a complete experimental realization, due to the extreme difficulty of moving mirrors close to the speed of light. We propose to circumvent this difficulty by experimentally realizing these emergent driven-cavity phenomena in a quantum gas with relativistic dispersion and a very low effective speed of light. Resulting quantitative insights into emergent time-domain order will reach beyond regimes treated by current theories and guide future chip-based realizations, with the potential to enable new techniques for optical signal compression, energy manipulation, multiplexing, and sensing. A second key goal of the proposed work is to increase the number of graduates, including underrepresented minorities, in defense-relevant STEM fields. As a designated Hispanic-Serving Institution, UC Santa Barbara faces a critical need to address student academic and career preparation to better serve the changing demographics of our student body. To address this goal, the PI of this proposal worked with a previous DoD HBCU/MI award (W911NF2010294) to found the ÒUCSB SACNAS Career Pathways Program.Ó This successful program, for which we request continuing support in this proposal, has helped hundreds of URM STEM students at UCSB, supporting their career preparation with four main activities: a new professional development workshop series; individualized career training and mentoring for graduate students and postdocs; a physics textbook library for economically disadvantaged students; a travel grant program for UCSB and UC-HBCU students to attend scientific conferences and collaboratively visit other institutions; and direct research participation by one postdoc, one graduate student researcher, and one undergraduate researcher each year (the latter two supported by non-DoD funding). In partnership with the UCSB SACNAS graduate student chapter and the graduate division, professional development workshops will continue to be developed and disseminated both at UCSB and at national professional meetings such as SACNAS or APS. To broaden the impact, career and professional development workshops and events will be open to the entire UCSB STEM community. The SACNAS Career Pathways Program includes partial salary support from DoD for a staff coordinator who coordinates the travel grants and the professional development workshop series, and helps build interconnections among campus organizations focusing on under-represented minorities including SACNAS, ONDAS, CSEP, and the UC-HBCU program. We propose to continue and expand this successful program with DoD support.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Jul 28, 2023
- Source ID
- W911NF2310291
Entities
People
- David M. Weld
Organizations
- Army Contracting Command
- Office of the Secretary of Defense
- University of California, Santa Barbara