For decades, CU Boulder has been an internationalÌýleader in quantum physics, and in transforming quantum research breakthroughs into real-world applications—from lasers that detect methane in the air to new microscopes that can probe the world in never-before-seen detail. Over its 60-year history, JILA—a joint Institute between CU Boulder and NIST—has boasted four NobelÌýPrize winners. Learn more about our latest quantum science and research discoveries.Ìý

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Close up photo of a component of an atomic clock in the lab

New research paves the way for atomic clocks 50 times more precise

Feb. 16, 2022

Physicists have shown that two tiny atomic clocks, separated by just a millimeter or the width of a sharp pencil tip, tick at different rates—a powerful test of Albert Einstein's 1915 theory of general relativity.

Jun Ye and Joe Neguse inspect equipment in the lab

Ultrafast lasers, ultracold atoms and more as Rep. Neguse tours JILA

Dec. 20, 2021

The Colorado congressman's recent visit to the CU Boulder campus came as investments in quantum research have grown across the country and the Centennial State.

Graphic showing a laser heating up thin bars of silicon

Cool it: Nano-scale discovery could help prevent overheating in electronics

Sept. 20, 2021

When you shrink down to very small scales, heat doesn't always behave the way you think it should. New findings from the nano realm could help researchers gain a better handle on the flow of heat in electronic devices.

Jun Ye in his lab at JILA

Jun Ye wins Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics

Sept. 9, 2021

Ye was cited for his work in developing atomic clocks that are so precise that they would neither gain nor lose one second in roughly 15 billion years.

Graphic of photons as particles and waves

New quantum 'stopwatch' can improve imaging technologies

Aug. 24, 2021

Engineers have developed the most efficient device to date for counting single photons, or the tiny packets of energy that make up light.

strontium clock

New $25-million center to advance quantum science and engineering

July 21, 2020

A new National Science Foundation center led by JILA will seek to bring quantum technologies out of the lab and into the real world.

A component in an extreme ultraviolet laser.

Scientists open new window into the nanoworld

July 15, 2020

Physicists at JILA achieve new feats of wafer-thinness in a study published this week.

Henry Kapteyn and Margaret Murnane in their lab at JILA

Keeping up with the Curies: Laser scientists win prestigious physics award

Jan. 27, 2020

Henry Kapteyn and Margaret Murnane, pioneers in the field of laser science, have won this year's prestigious Benjamin Franklin Medal in Physics.

Graphic depicting the weak interactions between neutral fermionic atoms in an ultracold gas.

Turning water into ice in the quantum realm

Aug. 2, 2019

Scientists have discovered that they can nudge clouds of ultracold atoms into two distinct phases where those particles behave in completely different ways.

Bar magnet

Lasers make magnets behave like fluids

April 18, 2019

Researchers have discovered how magnets recover after being blasted by a laser. It turns out, they act a bit like oil and water in a jar.

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