MIT-Harvard Center for Ultracold Atoms

The Center for Ultracold Atoms (CUA) is a research community at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University that pursues scientific opportunities made possible by the advent of ultracold atoms and molecules.

The CUA is supported by the National Science Foundation.

The CUA's research is currently organized around the themes of strongly correlated states of ultracold atoms and quantum state control of atoms and photons. The research is carried out in dedicated facilities at MIT and Harvard University by a community of approximately 100 graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, undergraduate students and visitors who work under the supervision of the Center's Senior Investigators in collaborativfe projects. A weekly CUA seminar that alternates between MIT and Harvard regularly brings together members of the Center. Each CUA seminar is preceded by a ten-minute talk by a graduate student or researcher, helping to keep the community abreast of new developments.

The CUA sponsors a variety of outreach activities includinge a summer school in atomic physics that is normally held in conjunction with the International Conference on Atomic Physics, a visitors program; co-sponsorship of workshops in collaboration with the nearby Theoretical Institute for Atomic and Molecular Physics (ITAMP), maintenance of a virtual journal of strongly interacting atomic quantum fluids, and the TOPS program to encourage undergraduate physics students who are considering careers in teaching physical science at the pre-college level.

The Director of CUA is Wolfgang Ketterle, John D. MacArthur Professor of Physics, MIT. Co-Directors are John M. Doyle, Professor of Physics, Harvard University, and Daniel Kleppner, Lester Wolfe Professor of Physics, Emeritus, MIT. The MIT Research Laboratory of Electronics provides central administration for CUA and also facilities and services for the MIT research activities.