Jack Harris

Jack Harris's picture
Professor of Physics
He/him/his
SPL 49, WLW 327
+1 (203) 432-3826
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.

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).
https://harrislab.yale.edu/sites/default/files/files/QuantumOptomechanicsInALiquid-Full.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).
https://harrislab.yale.edu/sites/default/files/files/2019Nature.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) .
https://harrislab.yale.edu/sites/default/files/files/cavityOptomechanicsInALevitatedHeliumDrop-full.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).
https://harrislab.yale.edu/sites/default/files/files/nature18604_final.pdf