Jean-Michel Raimond (born in

Orléans Orléans (;"Orleans"
(US) and ) is a French

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate caus ...

working in the field of

quantum mechanics Quantum mechanics is a fundamental theory in physics that provides a description of the physical properties of nature at the scale of atoms and subatomic particles. It is the foundation of all quantum physics including quantum chemistry, ...

Biography

Raimond enrolled at the

École normale supérieure (rue d'Ulm) An ''école normale supérieure'' () or ENS is a type of publicly funded higher education institution in France. A portion of the student body, admitted via a highly-selective competitive examination process, are French civil servants and a ...

(ENS) in 1975. After graduating with a DEA in atomic and molecular physics, his first research work was in

superradiance In physics, superradiance is the radiation enhancement effects in several contexts including quantum mechanics, astrophysics and relativity. Quantum optics In quantum optics, superradiance is a phenomenon that occurs when a group of ''N'' emit ...

and Rydberg atoms. He became Research Associate and Research Fellow at the

Centre national de la recherche scientifique The French National Centre for Scientific Research (french: link=no, Centre national de la recherche scientifique, CNRS) is the French state research organisation and is the largest fundamental science Basic research, also called pure research o ...

(CNRS), working under

Serge Haroche Serge Haroche (born 11 September 1944) is a French-Moroccan physicist who was awarded the 2012 Nobel Prize for Physics jointly with David J. Wineland for "ground-breaking experimental methods that enable measuring and manipulation of individual q ...

towards his 1984 thesis ("Radiative properties of Rydberg atoms in a resonant cavity"). Since 1988, he has taught at the

Université Pierre-et-Marie-Curie Pierre and Marie Curie University (french: link=no, Université Pierre-et-Marie-Curie, UPMC), also known as Paris 6, was a public research university in Paris, France, from 1971 to 2017. The university was located on the Jussieu Campus in the La ...

. From 1994 to 1999, he was a junior member of the

Institut universitaire de France The Institut Universitaire de France (IUF, Academic Institute of France), is a service of the French Ministry of Higher Education that distinguishes each year a small number of university professors for their research excellence, as evidenced by t ...

. From 2001 to 2011, he was a senior member and held the chair of

quantum optics Quantum optics is a branch of atomic, molecular, and optical physics dealing with how individual quanta of light, known as photons, interact with atoms and molecules. It includes the study of the particle-like properties of photons. Photons have b ...

. From 2004 to 2009, he was head of the Department of Physics at the

. Raimond specialised in

atomic physics Atomic physics is the field of physics that studies atoms as an isolated system of electrons and an atomic nucleus. Atomic physics typically refers to the study of atomic structure and the interaction between atoms. It is primarily concerned wit ...

and

as a member of the Kastler-Brossel Laboratory in the , which he ran with the 2012

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...

winner

and Michel Brune. He became interested in Rydberg atoms, because their relatively large size and sensitivity to

microwave radiation Microwave is a form of electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths ranging from about one meter to one millimeter corresponding to frequencies between 300 MHz and 300 GHz respectively. Different sources define different frequency rang ...

makes them particularly suited to studies of matter/energy interaction. He demonstrated that these atoms, coupled to superconducting cavities containing some

photon A photon () is an elementary particle that is a quantum of the electromagnetic field, including electromagnetic radiation such as light and radio waves, and the force carrier for the electromagnetic force. Photons are massless, so they always ...

s, are ideal systems for testing the laws of

quantum decoherence Quantum decoherence is the loss of quantum coherence. In quantum mechanics, particles such as electrons are described by a wave function, a mathematical representation of the quantum state of a system; a probabilistic interpretation of the wave ...

and for demonstrating the possibility of constructing the components of

quantum logic In the mathematical study of logic and the physical analysis of quantum foundations, quantum logic is a set of rules for manipulation of propositions inspired by the structure of quantum theory. The field takes as its starting point an observ ...

, with promising results for their use in

informatics Informatics is the study of computational systems, especially those for data storage and retrieval. According to ACM ''Europe and'' ''Informatics Europe'', informatics is synonymous with computer science and computing as a profession, in which ...

. His most recent work, quoted in the 2012 Nobel Prize-winning work, allows photons to be counted in the cavity without their being destroyed, thus directly demonstrating the quantum

measurement problem In quantum mechanics, the measurement problem is the problem of how, or whether, wave function collapse occurs. The inability to observe such a collapse directly has given rise to different interpretations of quantum mechanics and poses a key se ...

. This ideal measure also helps combat

with a

quantum feedback Quantum feedback or quantum feedback control is a class of methods to prepare and manipulate a quantum system in which that system's quantum state or trajectory is used to evolve the system towards some desired outcome. Just as in the classical case ...

scheme which keeps the number of photons in the cavity constant. Raimond is the son of Michel Raimond, late professor of

French literature French literature () generally speaking, is literature written in the French language, particularly by citizens of France; it may also refer to literature written by people living in France who speak traditional languages of France other than Fr ...

at the

Sorbonne Sorbonne may refer to: * Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities. *the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970) *one of its components or linked institution, ...

Awards

* Prix Fernand Holweck by the

Académie des sciences The French Academy of Sciences (French: ''Académie des sciences'') is a learned society, founded in 1666 by Louis XIV at the suggestion of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, to encourage and protect the spirit of French scientific research. It was at the ...

(1985) * Grand prix Ampère de l'Électricité de France, given by the

, with M. Brune (1998) * Grand Prix Jean-Ricard by the

Société française de physique The Société Française de Physique (SFP), or the French Physical Society, is the main professional society of French physicists. It was founded in 1873 by Charles Joseph d'Almeida. History The French Physical Society is a state-approved non- ...

(2007) * Gay-Lussac-Humboldt research award by the Fondation Alexander von Humboldt (2012) * European Physical Society Edison-Volta prize (2014) *

Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon B ...

* Officer of the

Ordre des Palmes Académiques A suite, in Western classical music and jazz, is an ordered set of instrumental or orchestral/concert band pieces. It originated in the late 14th century as a pairing of dance tunes and grew in scope to comprise up to five dances, sometimes with ...

Principal publications

* In this experiment, for the first time,

wave function collapse In quantum mechanics, wave function collapse occurs when a wave function—initially in a quantum superposition, superposition of several eigenstates—reduces to a single eigenstate due to interaction with the external world. This interaction is ...

was observed using quantum mechanical methods. *). Peer reviewed article describing in particular quantum logical operations. * * First ideal measurement (i.e. without quantum demolition) of the number of photons in a cavity. * * First demonstration of a quantum retroaction schema in a quantum continuum.

References

External links

*
Cavity Quantum Electro Dynamics
*
Conférence Ernest - Promenade dans le monde quantique
{{DEFAULTSORT:Raimond, Jean-Michel 1955 births Living people École Normale Supérieure alumni Academic staff of the École Normale Supérieure French physicists Scientists from Orléans Quantum physicists Fellows of the American Physical Society