I would like to thank the entire Quantum Optics group, particularly my adviser Jeff Kimble, for giving me such a wonderful opportunity to be part of truly amazing and ground-breaking research. In particular, my appreciation to Takao Aoki, Warwick
I would first like to thank my advisor, Jeff Kimble, for the wonderful opportunities of the past six years. I am deeply grateful for the chance to work in such an exciting field, and I have learned a great deal both from him and from the diverse group of researchers he has assembled. His vision of what it means to be a scientist and his enthusiasm for pursuing challenging research problems have been an inspiring part of my education. The strong sense of community within the Quantum Optics group has been an important part of my time at Caltech, and I would like to express my thanks to all of the group members. I have worked with an amazing set of colleagues on the cavity QED experiments: Kevin Birnbaum, Andreea Boca, David Boozer, Theresa Lynn, Russell Miller, and Dalziel Wilson. They have taught me by example how to be an experimentalist — and to have a lot of fun in the process, even on experiments that have sometimes seemed overwhelming. I want to stress that the recent achievements in lab 11 would not have been possible without Dave’s insight and analysis. Outside the lab, I am grateful to a circle of friends who have made southern
I want to sincerely thank Jeff Kimble for his many years of guidance. He has been a wonderful mentor and provided me an incredible opportunity to be a part of his group. I am always impressed by his integrity in the pursuit of science as well as his enthusiasm for tackling difficult scientific problems. I have learned so much from Jeff and will always be grateful for the profoundly positive impact he has had on my scientific development. I have benefited immensely from working directly on experiments with Jason Mckeever,
My first thanks go to Jeff Kimble for providing me the opportunity to work in this exciting field, and to be a part of his outstanding research group. Needless to say, his tireless efforts have played an instrumental role in the progress we’ve made these past few years. Beyond this direct contribution, I have learned immeasurable amounts from him, not only in terms of scientific skills both theoretical and experimental. I also owe a debt of gratitude to my colleagues from Lab 11, where all the work in this thesis was done. This list begins with David Vernooy and Jun Ye, who constructed the heart of the experiment, which continues to beat to this day. Postdoctoral fellows Dan Stamper-Kurn and Hanns-Christoph Nägerl provided excellent leadership, and I learned a great deal from both of them. Special thanks also go to Joe Buck, with whom our first real breakthroughs were achieved. Joe was a great friend and colleague throughout both the good times and the months before that weren’t quite as pleasant. Alex Kuzmich provided several important scientific contributions to our lab, which are greatly appreciated. Andreea Boca, David Boozer and Russ Miller have been tremendous friends and co-workers, and a separate paragraph of gratitude could be written about each of them. Amazing progress already being made as of this writing is a testament to the fact that the lab could not be