Gretchen K. Campbell (born c. 1980) is an American atomic, molecular, and optical physicist associated with the National Institute of Standards and Technology. She works in the field of atomtronics and has received awards in recognition of her research contributions on Bose-Einstein condensates.

Early life and education

Campbell was raised in western New York state and was curious about science from a young age. She attended

Wellesley College Wellesley College is a private women's liberal arts college in Wellesley, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1870 by Henry and Pauline Durant as a female seminary, it is a member of the original Seven Sisters Colleges, an unofficial g ...

for her undergraduate degree, initially intending to train as a veterinarian. However, first-year physics lectures by Glenn Stark and lab mentorship from Theodore W. Ducas shifted her interest toward physics. In particular, she enjoyed the physics problem-solving approach which encouraged logic and reasoning rather than memorisation. Her undergraduate honours thesis was on the topic of

optical tweezers Optical tweezers (originally called single-beam gradient force trap) are scientific instruments that use a highly focused laser beam to hold and move microscopic and sub-microscopic objects like atoms, nanoparticles and droplets, in a manner simila ...

. She graduated from Wellesley in 2001, then moved to MIT for her PhD. She studied Bose-Einstein condensates in optical lattices and related quantum phase transitions. She finished her degree in 2007 under the supervision of Wolfgang Ketterle and David Pritchard.

Career and research

Between 2007 and 2009, Campbell was a postdoctoral fellow at JILA in the group of Jun Ye. She worked on some of the world's most accurate atomic clocks based on optical transitions of cooled neutral atoms confined by optical lattices. In 2009, she moved to become a fellow of the Joint Quantum Institute (JQI) affiliation between

NIST The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is an agency of the United States Department of Commerce whose mission is to promote American innovation and industrial competitiveness. NIST's activities are organized into physical sci ...

and the University of Maryland. She became co-director of the institute in 2016. She is part of the Laser Cooling and Trapping group and the Quantum Measurement Division. Campbell manages two laboratories through the JQI collaboration, one at NIST and one on the university campus. Campbell currently works in atomtronics, an emerging research area into circuitry based on a flow of atoms rather than electrons. She is a leader in the field, with experiments showing promise for applications in sensing or quantum computers. This technology draws on her expertise with Bose-Einstein condensates (BEC) by using sodium BEC rings to create superfluid atom circuits analogous to superconductors. These experiments are

quantum In physics, a quantum (plural quanta) is the minimum amount of any physical entity (physical property) involved in an interaction. The fundamental notion that a physical property can be "quantized" is referred to as "the hypothesis of quantizati ...

in nature, as the rotation velocity of the ring trap flow is quantized. Using a laser to "stir" the BEC can cause transitions between eigenstates. Her contributions have included designing a weak link as an additional circuit component and observation of

hysteresis Hysteresis is the dependence of the state of a system on its history. For example, a magnet may have more than one possible magnetic moment in a given magnetic field, depending on how the field changed in the past. Plots of a single component of ...

effects. She enjoys conducting impactful, tabletop, ultracold experiments. Her work on BEC may also have implications for research on the

early universe The chronology of the universe describes the history and future of the universe according to Big Bang cosmology. Research published in 2015 estimates the earliest stages of the universe's existence as taking place 13.8 billion years ago, with ...

. BEC can be described as a "vacuum state for

phonon In physics, a phonon is a collective excitation in a periodic, Elasticity (physics), elastic arrangement of atoms or molecules in condensed matter physics, condensed matter, specifically in solids and some liquids. A type of quasiparticle, a phon ...

s" similar to the quantum field vacuum preceding early universe expansion. Campbell and her collaborator Stephen Eckel are interested to see if their model can provide insight into Hubble friction when a sound wave perturbs the BEC. Campbell mentors young scientists and manages a group for women in physics at the JQI. She was involved in the 2020 Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physics which took place there.

Awards and honours

* 2015 Fellow of the

American Physical Society The American Physical Society (APS) is a not-for-profit membership organization of professionals in physics and related disciplines, comprising nearly fifty divisions, sections, and other units. Its mission is the advancement and diffusion of k ...

"for pioneering contributions to the study of superfluidity in atomic-gas Bose-Einstein condensates using ring-shaped condensates." *2015 Finalist, Emerging Leaders category of the

Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medals Samuel ''Šəmūʾēl'', Tiberian: ''Šămūʾēl''; ar, شموئيل or صموئيل '; el, Σαμουήλ ''Samouḗl''; la, Samūēl is a figure who, in the narratives of the Hebrew Bible, plays a key role in the transition from the bib ...

. She "advanced the emerging field of physics known as atomtronics, paving the way for a new generation of technologies much like electronics has transformed our society today." *2015 IUPAP Young Scientist Prize. *2015

Maria Goeppert Mayer Award The Maria Goeppert-Mayer Award is an annual prize presented by the American Physical Society in recognition of an outstanding contribution to physics research by a woman. It recognizes and enhances outstanding achievements by women physicists in ...

"for her pioneering contributions to the study of superfluidity in atomic gas Bose-Einstein condensates using ring-shaped condensates, realizing atomic analogs to superconducting and superfluid liquid circuitry, including the use of weak links to create the first closed circuit atomtronic devices." *2012

Arthur S. Flemming Award The Arthur S. Flemming Award is an award given annually to employees of the United States federal government. More than 500 individuals have received the award since it was created in 1948. The Trachtenberg School of Public Policy & Public Admini ...

. *2012 PECASE Award. She was recognised for her research excellence and her commitment to mentoring young scientists, especially women in physics. *2011 Department of Commerce Bronze Medal "for proving the feasibility of atomtronics, a new field of atom-based electronics, by demonstrating the first controllable atom circuit." *2008 Finalist DAMOP thesis prize of the

. *2006 Martin Deutsch Prize For Excellence in Experimental Physics, MIT. *2005

OSA Osa or OSA may refer to: Places * Osa Peninsula, a peninsula in Costa Rica * Osa (canton), a canton in the province of Puntarenas in Costa Rica * Osa Conservation Area, an administrative area in Costa Rica * Osa, India, a village in Allahabad, I ...

New Focus/Bookham Student Award. *2001 Phyllis Fleming Physics Prize.

Personal life

Campbell has a daughter who was born in 2015.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Campbell, Gretchen Living people Year of birth missing (living people) American women physicists Wellesley College alumni Massachusetts Institute of Technology School of Science alumni American quantum physicists Fellows of the American Physical Society 21st-century American women Recipients of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers