Prize Recipient

Andrew Ludlow
NIST-Boulder

"The Strontium Optical Lattice Clock: Optical Spectroscopy with sub-Hertz Accuracy.
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Andrew Ludlow was raised in southeastern Connecticut. After graduating from Ledyard High School, he pursued undergraduate studies at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. There he worked with Dr. Scott Bergeson, using optical cavities and laser thermometry techniques to study two photon absorption processes in crystals. After graduating magna cum laude with a B.S. in physics from BYU, in 2002 he began his doctoral studies at the University of Colorado in Boulder. Following time in various laboratories as part of the Optical Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship Program at CU, he began research in the group of Dr. Jun Ye at JILA. Andrew’s doctoral dissertation presents the development of an optical atomic clock based on ultracold neutral strontium atoms confined in an optical lattice. This work culminated in an accuracy evaluation of the newly constructed strontium optical frequency standard, demonstrating one of the smallest frequency uncertainties of any standard, including   primary standards based on cesium. Furthermore, these efforts contributed to the international acceptance of the strontium standard as a practical realization of the meter and a secondary representation of the (SI) second. Andrew received the JILA scientific achievement award in 2006. He currently works with Dr. Chris Oates as a National Research Council postdoctoral fellow at NIST in Boulder.