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About

In recent years ultracold atomic gases have proven to be a powerful and versatile tool for studying a wide variety of physics.

Our group currently has two experiments, the Sodium atom circuits experiment and the ultracold Strontium experiment. Both experiments are located at the Joint Quantum Institute located on the UMD campus and use ultracold atomic gases to study many-body physics. The atom circuits experiment is currently focused on studying superfluidity and analogs of both superconducting electronics and cosmological physics, whereas the strontium experiment is focused on engineering and studying novel condensed matter systems.

Group Lead

Photo of Gretchen Campbell

Gretchen Campbell

Associate Vice President for Quantum Research and Education

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Research Publications

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Research

  • view of a strontium MOT through a vacuum chamber

    Ultracold Strontium

    Learn More about Ultracold Strontium
  • density plot of a ring BEC

    Atom Circuits

    Learn More about Atom Circuits

News

  • A man wearing glasses and a black sweater adjusts optical equipment in front of a cluttered lab space.

    Conducting Quantum Experiments in the ‘Coolest’ Lab on Campus

    February 16, 2026

    Yanda Geng works with atoms that are cooled to 100 nanokelvin and has discovered interesting patterns that appear everywhere from cosmic scales to the quantum realm.

  • Four squares in a row with the top half blue and bottom half yellow. In the leftmost the interface is smooth. The next interface is two smooth curves. The next interface is two mushroom cloud shapes. The final has no clear interface and shows random swirls and islands of yellow in the blue.

    When Superfluids Collide, Physicists Find a Mix of Old and New

    November 18, 2025

    Superfluids are notable for their unique properties and behaviors arising from the quantum interactions of the particles that make them up. Despite their quantum quirks, superfluids sometimes still behave in mundane ways. A new experiment captured images of two superfluids coming together and revealed that despite their quantum nature, they can still behave in ways that resemble the ripples and mushroom clouds seen in normal fluids.

  • University of Maryland Appoints JQI Fellow to Lead Quantum Research and Education

    July 14, 2025

    JQI Fellow Gretchen Campbell has been appointed to newly created Associate Vice President Role that will oversee UMD’s expanding quantum enterprise.

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