Research Areas
Atomic, Molecular & Optical Physics; Condensed Matter Physics; Quantum Physics
Research Type
Experimentalist
Current Projects
Optomechanics: Radiation Pressure - Radiation pressure in the quantum engine, Optical control of microstructures, Mechanical control of nonclassical light and Persistent Current - Microcantilevers and probes of closed mesoscopic systems, In-situ electron thermometry, Persistent currents in normal-metal rings
Biographical Sketch
Jack Harris is Professor of Physics and Applied Physics at Yale University and is also a member of the Yale Quantum Institute. He received his undergraduate degree from Cornell University and his Ph.D. from UCSB, where he developed ultrasensitive micromechanical sensors and used them to study quantum Hall systems in the group of David Awschalom. He was a postdoctoral fellow at the Harvard/MIT Center for Ultracold Atoms, where he worked with John Doyle and Wolfgang Ketterle on a cryogenic atom-trapping experiment. Since joining the Yale faculty in 2004, his group has developed novel approaches to the field of quantum optomechanics, including the “membrane-in-the-middle” device, and various means for combining high-finesse optical cavities with superfluid helium.
Research
Professor Harris studies the quantum aspects of motion in macroscopic objects that combine mechanical, optical, and superfluid components. His group’s experiments use ultrasensitive force detectors to measure quantum fluctuations of objects that are visible to the naked eye. These experiments are also used to study novel topological features in the dynamics of coupled oscillators.
Research Website
Education
Ph.D., UC Santa Barbara, 2000
Honors & Awards
Vannevar Bush Faculty Fellow, 2019
APS Fellow (Division of Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics), 2016
Arthur Greer Memorial Prize, 2009
DARPA Young Faculty Award, 2009
Yale University Junior Faculty Fellowship, 2008
Sloan Research Fellowship, 2007
Selected Publications
Quantum optomechanics in a liquid, A.B. Shkarin, A.D. Kashkanova, C.D. Brown, S. Garcia, K. Ott, J. Reichel, J.G.E. Harris. Phys. Rev. Lett 122, 153601 (2019).
PDF
Nonreciprocal control and cooling of phonon modes in an optomechanical system, H. Xu, L. Jiang, A.A. Clark, J.G.E. Harris. Nature 568, 65-69 (2019).
PDF
Cavity Optomechanics in a Levitated Helium Droplet, L. Childress, M.P. Schmidt, A.D. Kashkanova, C.D. Brown, G.I. Harris, A. Aiello, F. Marquardt, J.G.E. Harris. Phys. Rev. A 96, 063842 (2017) .
PDF
Topological energy transfer in an optomechanical system with an exceptional point, H. Xu, D. Mason, L. Jiang, J. G. E. Harris. Nature 537, 80-83 (2016).
PDF