Archived News

Be sure to visit the main page for the most recent news.

4 August 2022

Congratulations, Dr. Nick Pilgram!

4 August 2022

Paper on molecular enhancement factors for P, T-violating eEDM in BaCH3 and YbCH3 symmetric top molecules posted to the arXiv.

1 August 2022

We are excited to welcome the inaugural HSRC (hybrid summer research connection) class to Caltech.

22 June 2022

FUTURE 2022 will be held at Caltech September 12-13, 2022.   Please consider nominating rising Junior or Senior Undergraduate Women who are interested in pursuing a physics PhD.  The program is broadly inclusive of trans and genderqueer women, femmes, and gender non-confirming/non-binary students.  Nominations must be submitted by August 1, 2022.  Click here to learn more and apply.

2 June 2022

Congratulations to Katerina Gorou for winning the Richard P. Schuster Memorial Prize, and to Adrian Lopez for winning the 2022 Robert F. Christy Prize for an Outstanding Senior in Theoretical Physics, and to both of them for winning the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship!

25 May 2022

Paper on optical cycling in polyatomic molecules with multiple valence electrons posted on the arXiv.

1 April 2022

Welcome to the group, Adele, Alex, Chi, Nachiket, and Zitian!

5 November 2021

The Caltech Quantum Science and Engineering website is now live! 

19 October 2021

Congratulations for Phelan Yu for being awarded an Eddleman Graduate Fellow through the IQIM!

24 September 2021

We will once again be teaching Ph 137a, Atoms and Photons, in person!  Click here for more information.

22 September 2021

Consider applying to the Postdoctoral Prize Fellowships in Experimental Physics.

13 July 2021
Our research was featured in a popular science article: Designer Molecules May Provide Clues to Universe’s Biggest Unsolved Mysteries by Autumn Brower

30 June 2021
Welcome Summer Research Connection 2021!

29 June 2021
Fine and hyperfine interactions in 171YbOH and 173YbOH paper published in the Journal of Chemical Physics.

26 June 2021
Please attend the virtual workshop New Opportunities for Fundamental Physics Research with Radioactive Molecules

17 May 2021
SiPM crosstalk paper published in Optics Express.

21 August 2020
Digital whiteboard teaching demo using OneNote posted on YouTube as part of the Caltech Adaptable Teaching Series

You can also click here to view some notes about how to use OneNote as a digital whiteboard for teaching.  Some of the specifics are tailored to Caltech, but hopefully the notes are easily applied elsewhere.  Watch the video above for a description of the advantages of this approach, but a primary advantage is the ability to have all the notes be viewable in a browser window in real time.  In other words, students can "scroll back" and see what you wrote a few minutes ago.

10 July 2020
Hello Summer Research Connection!

4 May 2021
SiPM crosstalk paper posted to the arXiv.

27 April 2021
YbOH hyperfine paper posted to the arXiv.

6 April 2021
Buffer gas beam simulation paper published in Physical Review Research.

31 March 2021
Team AC advances to the Geothermal Manufacturing Prize Semifinals.

16 February 2021
Thanks to the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation for supporting our research through a Sloan Research Fellowship!

11 February 2021
YbOH axionlike particle sensitivity paper published in Phys. Rev. A

20 January 2021
Mercury polyatomic EDM sensitivity paper published in Atoms.

11 January 2021
Probing Fundamental Symmetries of Deformed Nuclei in Symmetric Top Molecules published in Physical Review Letters as an Editor's Suggestion.  See accompanying viewpoint from APS Physics here.

24 November 2020
Buffer gas beam simulation paper posted to the arXiv.

16 October 2020
Polyatomic precision measurement review published in Quantum Science and Technology
20 August 2020
Paper on Probing Fundamental Symmetries of Deformed Nuclei in Symmetric Top Molecules posted to the arXiv.

10 August 2020
Perspective on Polyatomic Molecules as Quantum Sensors for Fundamental Physics posted on the arXiv.

15 June 2020
Congratulations to Arian Jadbabaie for winning the John S. Stemple Memorial Prize!

8 June 2020
Black Lives Matter

Statement from members of the PMA community

Particles for Justice

ShutDownSTEM (June 10, 2020)

Resources from the Caltech Center for Inclusion & Diversity

4 May 2020
Our chemical enhancement results were featured in Physics World.

26 Feb 2020
Learn more about the motivation for some of our research in this Minute Physics video about the missing anti-matter in the universe. 

25 Feb 2020
YbOH MQM sensitivity paper published in J. Chem. Phys.

19 Feb 2020
Chemical enhancement paper published in New Journal of Physics.

1 Feb 2020
Thank you to the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation for funding our PolyEDM search for the electron EDM using laser-cooled polyatomic molecules!

17 December 2019
YbOH MQM sensitivity paper posted on the arXiv.

25 October 2019
Chemically enhanced beam production paper posted on the arXiv.

1 October 2019
Please consider applying for a Postdoctoral Prize Fellowships in Experimental Physics or Astrophysics.  Applications are due November 8.

27 September 2019
Good bye to Cherie Capri, who is starting as the administrator for the Caltech SphereX team.  Thanks for everything!

Welcome to our new administrative assistant, Nancy Roth-Rappard.

8 August 2019
Binning paper published in Metrologia.  Chi squared sometimes shouldn't be one!

1 August 2019
Hypermetallic molecules for precision measurements paper published in PRA as an Editor's Suggestion.

1 July 2019
Welcome Summer Research Connection!

17 June 2019
Welcome SURF and WAVE students!

19 April 2019
YbOH effective internal field paper published in PRA.

16 March 2019
Bringing Imbalance to the Universe given as part of Caltech's Science for March event


27 February 2019
We put a pre-print on the arXiv describing how molecules with multiple metal centers (hypermetallic molecules) might be interesting for precision measurements... and more!

22 February 2019
The Caltech Quantum Information Association (CQIA) is a new club at Caltech that we are happy to welcome!  From the website:

The association serves as a platform for members working on theory, experiment, and engineering in fields relevant to Quantum Information to exchange novel ideas and share expertise with resources. The goal is to foster strong ties and promote campus-wide multidisciplinary collaborations that lead to innovative research topics.

Check out the website for a list of events, and some recent blog posts about topological quantum computing, quantum computing in the near term, and of course our research

15 February 2019
Thank you to the National Science Foundation for supporting our research through a CAREER Award for Nick Hutzler.

29 November 2018
Science is for sharing

13 November 2018
Our lab will be participating in the inaugural QuantumSURF program.  Click here for details, including information about how to apply.

8 November 2018
We are honored to have won a Precision Measurement Grant from NIST to support our work on precision measurements in polyatomic molecules!

20 October 2018
SURF Seminar Day!  SURFers @ Caltech - Camilla, Emily, Claire, and David.  Alicia was at Yale with the DeMille Group.

7 October 2018
We put a paper on the arXiv describing some measurements of the rotational structure of the YbOH ground state.  These measurements were performed at ASU in collaboration with Tim Steimle.

23 September 2018
Apply for the Caltech Postdoctoral Prize Fellowships in Experimental Physics or Astrophysics.  Applications are due November 7, 2018 to start in academic year 2019.

27 September 2018
We are now part of a collaboration funded by a DOE Basic Energy Sciences Quantum Information Research Award to explore molecules with multiple optical cycling centers for quantum information processing and storage.

8 August 2018
We were featured in Pasadena Outlook for our part in helping the Chandler School take a journey to space (without leaving the comfortable confines of Caltech...)

Pasadena Outlook, 9 August 2019 (click for larger version)


31 July 2018
Summer 2018 Group Photo

Left to right: Priscilla, Gabby, David, Claire, Camilla, Arian, Nick H, Emily, Nick P

Not pictured: Jacob, Toros


17 July 2018
Visit to the Chandler School in Pasadena

Nick lying to children at the Chandler School about how big that fish was.

18 June 2018
Welcome SURF students!

16 May 2018
We are officially a cold molecule lab!

YbOH absorption signal in the cell of a 3.8 K cryogenic buffer gas beam source.  The small spike at the beginning is the nuclear magnetic quadrupole moment.  Just kidding.

11 May 2018
Group photo!

Spring 2018.  Alicia, Avikar, Nick H, Nick P, Arian


7 March 2018
The Caltech Center for Teaching, Learning, and Outreach (CTLO) arranged a lab tour for students from Wilson Middle School.  

Don't worry - nobody is wearing laser goggles because the lasers were off.


5 March 2018
We are officially cryogenic.

1 March 2018
Thanks to the Heising-Simons Foundation for supporting our research into fundamental nuclear symmetry violation!

Lab Open House - Monday, February 12, 1-4 pm
Please come by the first floor of Downs/Lauritsen and see the new, clean, and organized lab space before we trash it.

19 October 2017
Apply to Caltech for grad school!  Click here to learn more.

27 September 2017
Please see the advertisement and contact me if you are interested in a postdoctoral fellowship.



27 September 2017
Lab construction continues!


19 September 2017
Welcome to the group, Avikar!

15 August 2017
We had our final coordination meeting before construction begins next week.  Everything looks good so far.

Hmmmm, what's in this lead box cemented into the floor?  It's not on the building plans...

10 July 2017 - It begins
Welcome to the lab, Arian and Other Nick!

27-29 Mar 2017 - Grad student open house
Please stop by and visit during the Caltech physics graduate program open house from March 27-28.  Click the poster below to learn a bit about our research.

22 Feb 2017 - Lab space scouting
Checking out possible lab space at Caltech.  First floor of Downs/Lauritsen looks pretty good...