by Astghik Saharyan
Have you ever dreamt about being in Oxford, studying there or, even more, carrying out research? Well, a couple of years ago I wouldn’t even dare to dream about it, but here I am sitting in the most advanced physics facility in Europe (yes, apparently The Beecroft Building at the University of Oxford won an award for being the most advanced physics facility in Europe) and writing a blog.
Inside the Beecroft building
My name is Astghik. I am one of the early stage researchers (ESR) of the LIMQUET network, and I am based at the University of Burgundy in France. This network has been a turning point for my career and my life in general. Amongst all the incredible opportunities that the project has given me, today I want to tell you about my secondment foreseen by the network, which brought me to Oxford.
Those of you who have been to Oxford will agree that Oxford is a wonderful city, with its architectural beauty, rich history and culture, honey-coloured colleges, world-class museums, and last but not least, the astonishing libraries and bookstores. Being home to the University of Oxford, the university town of Oxford is a seductive vision of medieval learning and modern charm.
The famous Radcliffe Camera building which houses the Radcliffe Science Library (on the right) and Christ Church college of the University of Oxford (on the left)
Apart from being a wonderful city to visit or live in, Oxford is, of course, a great place to meet world-leading research groups and gain first-hand experience. Well, this is exactly what my secondment offered me: I had a unique chance to spend 3 months in Axel Kuhn’s group, and have a close look at the research work and experiments conducted in his labs. Being a theoretician, I had not really had any experience of working in a lab, so this was an opportunity for me to get to know the experimental part of the research that I have been carrying out and gain some lab working skills. Moreover, having such a great tutor such as Juan (another ESR based in Oxford), made me really enjoy my time spent in the lab.
The main objective of my PhD project is to theoretically design and develop versatile robust quantum control schemes that can be applied to the models such as CQED, ion traps, NMR mediating single photons for quantum information processing. Axel Kuhn’s group is focused on the study of atoms trapped in a cavity (two highly reflective mirrors facing each other, the left picture on the figure below), and the production of single photons from such a system. While in theoretical works we often start from the point where we already have atoms trapped in a cavity and producing a single photon, my time spent here in the lab made me realize how complicated and challenging can be the realization of such a system. Working with Juan in his lab, not only I had a chance to see the experiment and play a bit with the set up myself, this experience and wide discussions with the group gave me deep insights about my theoretical work and the field in general.
Experimental set up of an atomic fountain driven by a laser filed and trapped in a cavity, which itself is placed in a vacuum chamber
Overall this was an amazing experience for me to try to work with atoms and photons by not just drawing them on a paper but actually seeing them. I very much enjoyed my time in Axel’s group, the members of which were very welcome and made me feel like home. I would call this secondment very productive and insightful, not only from the scientific point of view.
