Video Presentations 

"Measuring Magnetic Field Direction With Atoms"

Advisor: Dr. Irina Novikova

Precise measurements of magnetic field are desirable for applications ranging from spacecraft to medical imaging. A promising technique for magnetic field measurement is atomic magnetometry, which leverages special frequencies of atoms called resonant frequencies. These frequencies are sensitive to magnetic field, but not temperature, pressure, or time, giving atomic magnetometry exciting potential. Furthermore, the transition of atoms between energy levels, induced by laser light, depends in part on the direction of magnetic field. We discuss a magnetometry technique centered around atomic transition amplitudes. We demonstrate sub-degree precision on angular measurements for a transverse magnetic field, and ability to measure full angular information for general magnetic fields.

Owen Rollins is majoring in Physics and Mathematics at William & Mary. His research interests center around leveraging light-matter interactions for precision measurement. His thesis involves measuring direction of magnetic fields using atoms. He has published his research in Optics Letters and Optics Express and has presented his work at various conferences, including Frontiers in Optics and Laser Science.

"Reconstructing Squeezed Quantum Spatial Modes of Light"

Advisor: Dr. Eugeniy Mikhailov

Non-classical noise is an intrinsic property of quantum systems that constrain the sensitivity of high-precision measurement and physical sensing capabilities. Squeezed light is a promising tool in quantum metrology that can suppress this noise by reducing unwanted fluctuations in either the phase or amplitude quadrature of light at the expense of the other. My research reveals that multi-mode squeezed light contains a non-trivial overlapping spatial structure that could be useful for quantum information processing and quantum networking applications. I experimentally demonstrate a novel method to detect and reconstruct up to 4 unique overlapping spatial modes of squeezed light using a spatial light modulator, balanced homodyning detection scheme and covariance matrix analysis techniques.

Kalea Wen is majoring in Physics with a minor in Computer Science and Math at William & Mary. Her research areas include quantum metrology, quantum information sciences, and quantum optics. Her thesis explores an avenue for quantum spatial mode imaging and possibly high dimensional quantum networking. Kalea plans to pursue her PhD beginning Fall 2026 studying quantum simulation with atomic qubits platforms.