Careers: Interviews
A Chat with Mark Saffman: Experimental physicist; Researcher; Professor of Physics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison; Director of the Wisconsin Quantum Institute; Chief Scientist for Quantum Information at ColdQuanta, Inc; about atomic physics, quantum and nonlinear optics, and quantum information processing

Mark Saffman is an experimental physicist working in the areas of atomic physics, quantum and nonlinear optics, and quantum information processing. He has made significant contributions to the physics of optical solitons, pattern formation, sources of entangled light, and quantum computing.

His current research effort is devoted to the use of cold atoms for quantum computing, networking, and sensing. His research team was the first to demonstrate a quantum CNOT gate between two trapped neutral atoms, and the deterministic entanglement of a pair of neutral atoms. This was done using dipole mediated interactions between highly excited Rydberg atoms. He is currently developing scalable neutral atom platforms using arrays of trapped atoms. He has published extensively on the physics of atom based quantum computing and coauthored a recent monograph "Quantum Information Processing: Theory and Implementation".

He is a Professor of Physics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Director of the Wisconsin Quantum Institute, and Chief Scientist for Quantum Information at ColdQuanta, Inc. He is a fellow of the American Physical Society and the Optical Society of America and has been recognized with the Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship and a University of Wisconsin Vilas Associate Award. He also serves as an Associate Editor for Physical Review A.

TO WATCH THE VIDEO INTERVIEW, CLICK ON THIS MP4 file link