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Find out what's happening within the department. We invite you to explore our upcoming events.APMS Colloquium
Thursday, September 3, 9:45 - 10:45 pm
Prof. Kanu Sinha
University of Arizona
Quantum electrodynamics in presence of atomic quantum boundaries
Abstract: Modification of the quantized electromagnetic field via boundaries is a fundamental feature and a powerful tool in quantum electrodynamics (OED), underlying a range of areas from cavity QED to Casimir physics. Typically, EM boundaries, such as mirrors and optical cavities, are created by classical objects with fixed optical properties. However, striking advances in experimental atomic physics have demonstrated that ordered arrays of thousands of atoms can behave as mirrors, manifesting the ultimate limits of miniaturization of a reflective boundary. Such systems bring forward a new prospect: Atomic quantum boundaries that can shape the mode structure of the EM vacuum via quantum properties of their constituent atoms. In this talk I will discuss how such atomic boundaries modify paradigmatic QED phenomena and can give rise to memoryful (non-Markovian) electromagnetic environments.
Bio: Kanu Sinha is an Assistant Professor in the College of Optical Sciences at the University of Arizona (UA). She earned her Ph.D. in Physics at University of Maryland (UMD), College Park, and has held postdoctoral appointments at the Institute of Quantum Optics and Quantum Information (IQOQl) in Innsbruck and the US Army Research Laboratory (ARL). She was subsequently an Associate Research Scholar at Princeton University, and an Assistant Professor at Arizona State University before starting her current position at UA. Her research lies at the intersection of Quantum Optics and Open Quantum Systems, with active areas of interest spanning: collective atom-photon interactions, quantum fluctuation phenomena, non-Markovian dynamics, and more recently, quantum optical effects in gravitational fields. She is a recipient of the Department of Energy (DOE) early career award and the Scialog Quantum Matter and Information fellowship.
Health & Learning Center, Building 25, Room 3108
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Password: MIRA2026
Sponsored by:
- Center for Materials Interfaces in Research and Applications (¡MIRA!)
- Nanotechnology Collaborative Infrastructure Southwest (NCI-SW) and Arizona State University (ASU)
Colloquium Schedule Spring 2026
For a complete listing, please visit the current colloquium schedule.
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