Travis L Nicholson

Journal article Prx Quantum · November 10, 2025 Ultracold gases of atoms from main group III (group 13) of the periodic table, also known as “triel elements,” have great potential for a new generation of quantum matter experiments. The first magnetooptical trap of a triel element (indium) was recently r ... Full text Cite

Magneto-optical trapping of a group- iii atom

Journal article Physical Review A · June 1, 2022 We realize the first magneto-optical trap of an atom in main group iii of the Periodic Table. Our atom of choice (indium) does not have a transition out of its ground state suitable for laser cooling; therefore, laser cooling is performed on the |5P3/2,F=6 ... Full text Cite

Zeeman slowing of a group-III atom

Journal article Physical Review Research · March 1, 2022 We realize a Zeeman slower of an atom in main group III of the Periodic Table, otherwise known as the "triel elements."Despite the fact that our atom of choice (namely indium) does not have a ground state cycling transition suitable for laser cooling, slow ... Full text Cite

Superradiant emission of a thermal atomic beam into an optical cavity

Journal article Physical Review A · September 1, 2021 We theoretically analyze the collective dynamics of a thermal beam of atomic dipoles that couple to a single mode when traversing an optical cavity. For this setup we derive a semiclassical model and determine the onset of superradiant emission and its sta ... Full text Cite

Rugged mHz-Linewidth Superradiant Laser Driven by a Hot Atomic Beam.

Journal article Physical review letters · December 2020 We propose a new type of superradiant laser based on a hot atomic beam traversing an optical cavity. We show that the theoretical minimum linewidth and maximum power are competitive with the best ultracoherent clock lasers. Also, our system operates natura ... Full text Cite

Observation of three-photon bound states in a quantum nonlinear medium.

Journal article Science (New York, N.Y.) · February 2018 Bound states of massive particles, such as nuclei, atoms, or molecules, constitute the bulk of the visible world around us. By contrast, photons typically only interact weakly. We report the observation of traveling three-photon bound states in a quantum n ... Full text Cite

Symmetry-protected collisions between strongly interacting photons.

Journal article Nature · February 2017 Realizing robust quantum phenomena in strongly interacting systems is one of the central challenges in modern physical science. Approaches ranging from topological protection to quantum error correction are currently being explored across many different ex ... Full text Cite

Collective atomic scattering and motional effects in a dense coherent medium.

Journal article Nature communications · March 2016 We investigate collective emission from coherently driven ultracold (88)Sr atoms. We perform two sets of experiments using a strong and weak transition that are insensitive and sensitive, respectively, to atomic motion at 1 μK. We observe highly directiona ... Full text Cite

Optical Feshbach resonances: Field-dressed theory and comparison with experiments

Journal article Physical Review A Atomic Molecular and Optical Physics · August 24, 2015 Optical Feshbach resonances (OFRs) have generated significant experimental interest in recent years. These resonances are promising for many-body physics experiments, yet the practical application of OFRs has been limited. The theory of OFRs has been based ... Full text Cite

Systematic evaluation of an atomic clock at 2 × 10(-18) total uncertainty.

Journal article Nature communications · April 2015 The pursuit of better atomic clocks has advanced many research areas, providing better quantum state control, new insights in quantum science, tighter limits on fundamental constant variation and improved tests of relativity. The record for the best stabil ... Full text Cite

An optical lattice clock with accuracy and stability at the 10(-18) level.

Journal article Nature · February 2014 Progress in atomic, optical and quantum science has led to rapid improvements in atomic clocks. At the same time, atomic clock research has helped to advance the frontiers of science, affecting both fundamental and applied research. The ability to control ... Full text Cite

Comparison of two independent Sr optical clocks with 1×10(-17) stability at 10(3) s.

Journal article Physical review letters · December 2012 Many-particle optical lattice clocks have the potential for unprecedented measurement precision and stability due to their low quantum projection noise. However, this potential has so far never been realized because clock stability has been limited by freq ... Full text Cite

Measurement of optical Feshbach resonances in an ideal gas.

Journal article Physical review letters · August 2011 Using a narrow intercombination line in alkaline earth atoms to mitigate large inelastic losses, we explore the optical Feshbach resonance effect in an ultracold gas of bosonic (88)Sr. A systematic measurement of three resonances allows precise determinati ... Full text Cite

Probing interactions between ultracold fermions.

Journal article Science (New York, N.Y.) · April 2009 At ultracold temperatures, the Pauli exclusion principle suppresses collisions between identical fermions. This has motivated the development of atomic clocks with fermionic isotopes. However, by probing an optical clock transition with thousands of lattic ... Full text Cite

Heteronuclear molecules in an optical dipole trap

Journal article Physical Review A Atomic Molecular and Optical Physics · July 23, 2008 We report on the creation and characterization of heteronuclear K 40 R 87 b Feshbach molecules in an optical dipole trap. Starting from an ultracold gas mixture of K 40 and R 87 b atoms, we create as many as 25000 molecules at 300 nK by rf association. Opt ... Full text Cite