Nicholas P. Bigelow

Lee A. DuBridge Professor of Physics, Professor of Optics
Chair of Faculty Senate

Office: Bausch & Lomb 312 (585) 275-8549
Lab: Laboratory for Laser Energetics (585) 275-2309
Fax: (585) 273-3237
E-mail: nbig@lle.rochester.edu

Short Biography
Professor Bigelow received his B.S. in Engineering Physics (1981) and his B.S. in Electrical Engineering (1981) from Lehigh University, and his M.S. and Ph.D. (1989) in Physics from Cornell University. He then joined the Technical Staff of AT&T Bell Laboratories, where he remained until 1991. Early in 1991 he moved to the École Normale Supérieure in Paris, France, where he worked in the Laboratoire Kastler-Brossel. Professor Bigelow joined the University in 1992, and presently holds the position of Professor of Physics and Professor of Optics. In 1992 he was also appointed as a Scientist at the Laboratory for Laser Energetics.

Professor Bigelow has been the recipient of a Sloan Foundation Fellowship, a David and Lucile Packard Foundation Fellowship, and a Young Investigator Award from the National Science Foundation. Professor Bigelow is the Chair of the Fundamental Physics Discipline Working Group in the NASA Microgravity Physics Program and he has been the organizer and co-organizer of various research meetings and conferences. Professor Bigelow has served as an invited researcher in the laser cooling groups at the the Laboratoire Kastler-Brossel in Paris, France, the Institut d'Optique in Orsay, France, and at the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil.

Research
Professor Bigelow's research interests are in the areas of Quantum Optics and Quantum Physics. His recent work has focused on the creation and study of ultra-cold quantum gases, the manipulation and control of atomic motion using light pressure forces, the laser cooling and trapping of atoms and molecules, Bose-Einstein Condensation, and the quantum nature of the basic atom-photon interaction.

Professor Bigelow's current experimental research activities center on the creation and manipulation of ultracold atomic vapors that are mixtures of atoms of distinct atomic species. Current projects include the realization of a two-species Bose-Einstein condensate, the application of quantum control and ultra-fast spectroscopy to the creation and manipulation of ultracold molecules - including heteronculear molecular species - and in the cooperative behavior of ultracold molecular vapors. Experiments are also underway on quantum noise in atomic measurement. Professor Bigelow's group is additionally engaged in theoretical research, and current projects include the investigation of Bose-Einstein condensation of atomic vapors with internal degrees of freedom such as spinor condensate, multi-component Bose-Einstein condensates, atom lasers, atom-atom interactions and cold collisions, and self-organization of dense, ultracold polar molecular vapors. More details about the activities of Professor Bigelow's research group can be found here.

Professor Bigelow is a member of the Rochester Quantum Information Center and the Univesity of Rochester's Materials Science Program, and is a cohort of the Rochester Theory Center for Optical Science and Engineering.

Professor Bigelow's Group Pages