David P. DeMille is an American physicist and Professor of

Physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...

at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chic ...

. He is best known for his use of polar

diatomic molecules Diatomic molecules () are molecules composed of only two atoms, of the same or different chemical elements. If a diatomic molecule consists of two atoms of the same element, such as hydrogen () or oxygen (), then it is said to be homonuclear. Ot ...

to search for symmetry-violating effects within the molecules and as a means for manipulating the external properties of the molecules. His group was the first to accomplish

laser cooling Laser cooling includes a number of techniques in which atoms, molecules, and small mechanical systems are cooled, often approaching temperatures near absolute zero. Laser cooling techniques rely on the fact that when an object (usually an atom) a ...

of a diatomic molecule, achieved in 2010 using strontium monofluoride (SrF). He is also known for his precise measurements in the ACME EDM Experiment which constrain the upper limit of the

electron electric dipole moment The electron electric dipole moment is an intrinsic property of an electron such that the potential energy is linearly related to the strength of the electric field: :U = \mathbf d_ \cdot \mathbf E. The electron's electric dipole moment (EDM) m ...

using a beam of

thorium monoxide Thorium monoxide (thorium(II) oxide), is the binary oxide of thorium having chemical formula ThO. The covalent bond in this diatomic molecule is highly polar. The effective electric between the two atoms has been calculated to be about 80 gi ...

, conducted in collaboration with the groups of Gerald Gabrielse and John Doyle at Harvard. DeMille is currently also leading the CeNTREX collaboration, an experiment to measure the nuclear Schiff moment of the

thallium Thallium is a chemical element with the symbol Tl and atomic number 81. It is a gray post-transition metal that is not found free in nature. When isolated, thallium resembles tin, but discolors when exposed to air. Chemists William Crookes an ...

nucleus inside a thallium fluoride molecule. He was elected a fellow of the American Physical Society in 2005.

Selected bibliography

* D DeMille (2015)
"Diatomic molecules, a window onto fundamental physics"
Physics Today. 68 (12). * D DeMille (2002). "Quantum computation with trapped polar molecules". Physical Review Letters. 88 (6). * LD Carr, D DeMille, RV Krems, J Ye (2009). "Cold and ultracold molecules: science, technology and applications". New Journal of Physics. 11 (5). * BC Regan, ED Commins, CJ Schmidt, D DeMille (2002). "New limit on the electron electric dipole moment". Physical review letters. 88 (7).

References

External links

DeMille Research Group
21st-century American physicists Yale University faculty Living people Fellows of the American Physical Society 1964 births {{US-physicist-stub