Title: Thulium-doped noble gases - a new playground for quantum information and sensing

Abstract: Most people have never heard of the element thulium (Z = 69), which although rare is 200 times more abundant on earth than gold. Like other lanthanides, it contains an open f-shell, which historically served to make it a curiosity for atomic physicists and quantum chemists. Recently, there has been growing interest in quantum systems built from cryogenic materials such as superfluid helium or solid noble gases. Such materials are chemically inert, highly compatible, and lack dangling bounds or surface two-level systems, but adding optically active dopants is challenging. Here, the unique physics of thulium provides a path forward. I will discuss optical measurements of neutral thulium doped into solid argon and neon, and show how this system already offers one of the most homogeneous solid state optical systems known. I will also discuss pathways to greater homogeneity, stronger coupling, and single atom addressing.

Bio: Colin Parker joined the School of Physics at Georgia Tech in 2016, where he leads a research group that investigates quantum phenomena at the interface of atomic, optical, and condensed matter physics. Dr. Parker received his Ph. D in physics from Princeton University in 2011, studying high-temperature superconductors. He was then a Kadanoff-Rice postdoctoral fellow at the University of Chicago, where he helped develop the near-resonant lattice shaking technique for ultracold atoms. At Georgia Tech, he has pioneered the study of shaking lattices with fermions, and the use of the rare earth element thulium as a quantum dopant in solid cryo-crystal hosts. He has received the AFOSR young investigator grant, and the NSF CAREER award.