My life has been a blessing from God in many ways.First and foremost, I would like to thank professors Cass Sackett and Bill Soffa for encouraging and never giving up on me.The completion of my study could not have happened without them.In reaching the apex of my endeavor, I am forever indebted in gratefulness.Without their help, this would have been an impossible journey.They also inspired me to consider teaching as my new goal.Despite other lucrative offers, I believe teaching has a true meaning and purpose for me.I'd also like to thank graduate students in Casslab, especially Rob Horne, who shared the burden of making our experiment a successful one.My life re-started in the states at ten years old, when barely speaking a word of English, Bob Schmitt and Greg Bartman became my lifelong friends.Mr. & Mrs (Mom) Bartman never seemed to get tired of my coming over to their house/beach house living like a son who never paid rent.In Laurel high school, I would like to thank Mr. Swartz for making math an approachable subject.I must also thank Mr/Coach Chuck Hickes for believing in my success -not only were you my football coach, you coached me in so many other ways in life!At Swarthmore, Professor John Gaustad took me under his wings and taught me how to study and do research.You did everything you could to make sure I could be successful at research through experiments.My 6 years spent at NASA proved to be a very valuable experience in many ways.Ed Cheng, Dale Fixsen, and John Mather were three significant influences in my life.I still remember Casey Inman teaching me how to make circuits.I had an unforgettable experience at Antarctica, running the CMBR experiment.It's funny how one opportunity leads to another, who would have thought I'd meet my wife Yeonju (Sarah) there, and name our daughters Erebus and Terranova after the mountains in Antarctica.My 14 years at the Naval Research Lab are unforgettable ones.It took me everywhere including Afghanistan.My thanks go to Charmaine Gilbreath, who provided the opportunity for me to pursue graduate studies.Before coming to UVa, my short stint at GWU was not a waste.I'd like to thank professor Helmut Haberzettl for his German way of physics.I also like to
My life has been a blessing from God in many ways.First and foremost, I would like to thank professors Cass Sackett and Bill Soffa for encouraging and never giving up on me.The completion of my study could not have happened without them.In reaching the apex of my endeavor, I am forever indebted in gratefulness.Without their help, this would have been an impossible journey.They also inspired me to consider teaching as my new goal.Despite other lucrative offers, I believe teaching has a true meaning and purpose for me.I'd also like to thank graduate students in Casslab, especially Rob Horne, who shared the burden of making our experiment a successful one.My life re-started in the states at ten years old, when barely speaking a word of English, Bob Schmitt and Greg Bartman became my lifelong friends.Mr. & Mrs (Mom) Bartman never seemed to get tired of my coming over to their house/beach house living like a son who never paid rent.In Laurel high school, I would like to thank Mr. Swartz for making math an approachable subject.I must also thank Mr/Coach Chuck Hickes for believing in my success -not only were you my football coach, you coached me in so many other ways in life!At Swarthmore, Professor John Gaustad took me under his wings and taught me how to study and do research.You did everything you could to make sure I could be successful at research through experiments.My 6 years spent at NASA proved to be a very valuable experience in many ways.Ed Cheng, Dale Fixsen, and John Mather were three significant influences in my life.I still remember Casey Inman teaching me how to make circuits.I had an unforgettable experience at Antarctica, running the CMBR experiment.It's funny how one opportunity leads to another, who would have thought I'd meet my wife Yeonju (Sarah) there, and name our daughters Erebus and Terranova after the mountains in Antarctica.My 14 years at the Naval Research Lab are unforgettable ones.It took me everywhere including Afghanistan.My thanks go to Charmaine Gilbreath, who provided the opportunity for me to pursue graduate studies.Before coming to UVa, my short stint at GWU was not a waste.I'd like to thank professor Helmut Haberzettl for his German way of physics.I also like to
Nothing is achieved alone.I am what and where I am because of all of those who crossed my path.Without all the good and the bad, I would not be here.I want to deeply thank all of those who joined me in this amazing experience.More specifically... To my mother who have always supported me in every decision I made, who let me walk on my own, but made me sure she was always there for what I needed.To my father, that always taught me the value of education and dedication.To my brother, to all the coffee and many gestures of love and appreciation.I hope I can inspire you, the same way you inspire me.À minha avó, que não somente me ensinou a ler, mas também com quem aprendi muito sobre amor, família e perseverança.To my friends who have been with me throughout all these years, sharing dreams, wins, loses but always there for each other.Specifically, those who started with me this journey in Physics, Rafael e Vitória, and are a fundamental part of my trajectory.Also, all my colleagues from the Quantum Adventures group, that quickly became a second family.To my friend and advisor, Thiago.It was out of pure chance I ended up in that interview and sent you an email.Now, two years later, I can see the difference it has made and how much you helped me through all of it, not only academically.It was a pleasure share these last two years.And hopefully, many to come. At last, I want to thank my beloved girlfriend Clara.There is no overstating the importance you have in my life.A great part of what I am, is due to you.And that part is certainly the best of me.Love you dearly.
A well isolated environment can be ideal for a quantum system to perform e ciently. Unlike this a PhD student needs to interact with many people during the course to complete a research project timely. Having said that, here is a list of people whom I would like to pay my deepest and profound gratitude. I would like to thank my rst principal supervisor Prof. David Kielpinski, who accepted me to work in his research group and guided me like a professional physicist. Later on, sudden news about his permanent departure to USA at the stage when I was really close to nish a project was quite challenging. Nevertheless, Dr. Erik Streed and Dr. Mirko Lobino took me under their wings as new advisers with their instrumental counselling to complete my PhD thesis. My special thanks goes to Dr. Tim Byrnes from New York University, with whom I did some theoretical work mentioned in the thesis. Beside these, my lab fellows including Matthew Petrasiunas, Valdis Blums, Paul Fisher, Dr. Ben Norton and Dr. Moji Ghadimi were very instructive and helping during my stay at Gri th University. Above all, I have no words to thank my parents and family for their selfess support over the years. An experimental research project is no more than a dream without money. Therefore, I would like to say a big thanks to all the funding agencies who were linked to this project, directly or indirectly from the beginning to end, including Gri th University for their international postgraduate research and postgraduate research scholarships, the US air force and the Australian research council.
An atom interferometer using Bose-Einstein condensates has been implemented and is used to measure the dynamic polarizability of 87 Rb.An off-resonant standing-wave laser beam is used to manipulate the motion of atomic wavepackets in order to implement splitting and reflection operations.It is demonstrated that these operations can be performed with near unity fidelity.Interferometer times of up to 72 ms as well as arm separations of up to 0.42 mm are achieved experimentally.I owe a great deal.First and foremost I recognize my advisor, Cass Sackett, who not only passed on some of his seemingly unlimited knowledge, but was also an indispensable source of advice in personal issues.I could not have asked for a better mentor and can only strive to live up to his standards.My colleagues in the lab -Jessica, Ofir, Ken, Jeramy and John -shared with me many frustrating moments when everything seemed to go wrong (see: cracking glass chamber, imploding glass chamber, bursting coils, broken waveguide), but also many successes and laughs.They are largely responsible for keeping the trip to the lab in the morning something to look forward to.I especially need to mention Ofir Garcia, who not only forced me to realize what I did and did not understand while answering his questions, but who was also a partner in hiking the Grand Canyon, watching the World Cup, and in general, simply a great friend.My teachers throughout the years -Mr.Zschernitz and Mr. Koch in the Gymnasium and Prof. Hotop and Prof. Fleischhauer in Kaiserslautern -deserve my thanks for conveying their love of physics in general and atomic and optical physics in particular.At the University of Virginia, I have been in the happy situation of being able to exchange equipment and ideas with some very smart people, especially Prof. Tom Gallagher and Prof. Bob Jones, as well as their students.Furthermore, the staff of the physics department has been ex-vi tremely helpful with all manners of problems small and large.In addition to academic support, many other people have worked to keep me sane.In Virginia, a large group of friends came from the Movie Club, whose company I will surely miss.In Kaiserslautern, I still fondly remember the times spent with the Ex-FiPS group of Martin, Dirk, Thomas, Gustav, Christian, and Christine.I am certain that in the future, at least one of these people will have some theorem or effect named after them.Finally, I am grateful to the friends that have been a part of my life even though an ocean separates us -Marc, Uli, Dennis, Mario, Karin, Désirée, and all the rest.There is not much I can say to Kristen that I have not said to her already.She is the reason
com apoio da Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP), Brasil.Processos nº 2022/01421-9 e nº 2022/14069-1.Eu agradeço muito pelo suporte financeiro, que me permitiu atender eventos importantes do meu campo de pesquisa e a fazer um intercâmbio inesquecível.iv I would first like to thank my advisor, Bárbara Amaral.Her guidance over these almost four years of undergraduate and master's studies has been essential to my development as a student and researcher.Thank you for all your patience, for giving me so many incredible opportunities, and for showing me that it is possible to do physics without giving up on other important aspects of life.Thank you for being an incredible person, in whom I draw inspiration.I hope to continue learning a lot from you and gossiping over coffee breaks at conferences and IFQIFs.To my parents, Maria de Fátima and Jones, who are my foundation and the loves of my life.I am immensely grateful for all the support you have given me.This work is largely the result of your efforts.Mom, thank you for being strong, loving and for teaching me to believe in myself.Dad, thank you for supporting me, making awful jokes (which I laugh at from time to time), and for teaching me that life is too short not to enjoy the people we love.So thank you very much, I love you.To my siblings, Gabriela and Matheus, for being my biggest inspirations, even though I try hard not to admit it in front of you.Gabi, thank you for being the sweetest person I know (and the fiercest too!).You have the gift of making me feel welcome and comfortable.Being with you is easy.Math, thanks for getting excited about me studying something remotely close to quantum computing and genuinely believing that I'm going to get rich from it.If that happens, although it's highly unlikely, I'll dedicate part of the fortune to you.But beyond that, thank you for showing me that someone so serious and responsible can be so playful and kind.And to my brother and sister-in-law, Luc and Malu, thank you for making Gabi and Math so happy.I love you all.And Malu, thanks for Sosô.To my grandparents, Eunice, Jurandir, Victória and Olize.Abuela, know that the most important part of who I am today comes from you.Thank you for teaching me to laugh on difficult days and to look at life through the eyes of a child.Grandpa, I didn't have the privilege of knowing you, but thank you for raising this family with grandma.Vivitória, you're not here anymore either, but I'll never forget talking to you by the wood-burning stove on cold mornings in Caçador.And Grandpa, "Life is bitter enough already, isn't it?Barbarity."So I'll try to write happier things next.
Dedicated to my wife Laura and my parents. Without their help, none of this would have been possible. Acknowledgments First and foremost, I would like to thank my advisor, Mark Raizen. I was so fortunate that he took a chance on a kid with no experience with atomic physics experiments. He let me into the lab, showed me the exciting world of atomic physics, and taught me how to be an experimental physicist. He has always found the interesting topics to study and has creative ideas to tackle any problem that comes along. I am grateful for my time in the lab, and I look forward to the new results that will come from the experiments. Next I would like to thank my co-workers: Todd Meyrath, Florian Schreck and Chih-Sung Chuu. For the past several years we have worked side by side on a variety of projects most of which are described in the last chapter. Todd is a very talented man who I have had the pleasure to know since beginning graduate school. He is the one who got me interested in cold