Speaked: Thomas Clark (Wigner RCP)
Title: Atomic enlightenment: atoms, lasers and a magnetic journey towards a united brain
Date: Thursday14 October 2025. 10:00
Place: Building 1, Conference room
Well, 8 years, 9 cats and 4 labs later, one thing is now clear. I'm getting older. And only in this light, can one reflect on what it might mean to be a senior scientist.
In this overview therefore, I will forestall my troubled relationship with time by considering spatial shaping: of both light and atoms. In line with requirements, this will be a whistle-stop tour of past work: covering holograms and fibers and software and sensing - interleaved with recent phase transitions - at the atomic and meta level. We will conclude with a discussion of future plans, outlining the connections in my atomic habits, their relation to interferometry and how this might pertain to magnetic sensing and its (optimistic) application to medical imaging. If reminiscence does nothing to change my position however, I hope to at least convince you of the benefits of seeking phase-stability, after nearly a decade of interference.
