CU PREP Alumni Highlight: Dan Cole (PhDPhys’18)
Dan Cole (PhDPhys'18)
Dan Cole (PhDPhys’18) got his start in CU’s Professional Research Experience Program (CU PREP) by joining the Time and Frequency Division at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) working with Scott Diddams and Scott Papp.
Cole remembers meeting Diddams during a recruiting visit to CU. “I thought his research was interesting and working at NIST looked like a great opportunity,” he recalls.
During his PhD studies, Cole’s research at NIST focused on the nonlinear dynamics underlying frequency comb generation in optical microresonators. The research involved a mix of experimental work and numerical simulation of nonlinear dynamics.
“The optical frequency comb was the subject of the 2005 Nobel Prize in Physics. It revolutionized precision measurement by creating a kind of “optical ruler” that can very accurately measure the frequency of light,” said Cole.
“My research explored ways to miniaturize this technology so that it could be used outside the lab and eventually incorporated into integrated photonics devices. In addition to my work studying frequency comb generation in optical microresonators, I worked with my colleagues to develop and patent a method of frequency comb generation based on modulating a single-frequency laser. And I had a great collaboration with Professor Luigi Lugiato to extend his "Lugiato-Lefever equation" describing frequency comb generation in ring resonators to linear resonators.”
Cole recalls one of his proudest accomplishments as a graduate student was when he and his colleagues figured out why their microresonator frequency combs were producing a variety of highly structured optical spectra.
“My colleagues and I eventually explained these spectra as arising from an interesting twist on behavior that we already understood. We expected to find a single pulse of light circulating in the resonator, and instead we saw ordered patterns of many pulses, with slightly different arrangements producing many different spectra. This was a very satisfying solution to the puzzle!”
Now Cole is a quantum physicist at Infleqtion, an atomic physics technology company. He leads a team of scientists and engineers to develop and operate their neutral atom quantum computer in 鶹ӰԺ. “One thing I like about the industry environment is that it’s highly collaborative,” he said.
When asked what advice he would give to future students, Cole said changing research fields helped him stay excited about the work and gave him a broad perspective. Through graduate school, postdoctoral studies and his shift into industry, Cole changed his research focus multiple times.
He started with classical nonlinear optics in microresonator frequency combs. After graduate school, he took a post-doc doing trapped ion quantum information experiments at NIST's Ion Storage group. After NIST, he remained in the quantum information field but pivoted from trapped ions to neutral atoms in his transition to Infleqtion.
“One advantage of these kinds of transitions is that they are fun, and a second is that I think having experience across multiple fields really helps to spur creative problem solving,” he said.