Nick Robins is currently a research fellow in the Centre for Quantum Atom Optics (ACQAO), an Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence, spanning The Australian National University, Swinburne University and The University of Queensland (see www.acqao.org).

ACQAO aims to exploit and study the quantum nature of multiple particle quantum states of atoms and photons, including entangled light and Bose-Einstein condensates (BEC). The Centre focuses on fundamental research, but its long term goal is to underpin and develop the next generation of quantum technology.

Nick completed his BSc(Hon) and PhD at the ANU, having grown up in Canberra and its surrounds.  Nick was awarded an Australian Research Council (ARC) Postdoctoral Fellowship in 2004 to study and develop continuous-wave atomlasers. In 2007, Nick became one of the Chief Investigators of ACQAO, taking a leading role, together with colleague Prof. John Close, in running the atomlaser research program in the Department of Quantum Science. 

Nick's most significant contribution to the field of atomic and molecular physics is the investigation and development of the atom laser through a number of world first experiments, culminating in the production of a pumped atom laser published in Nature Physics in 2008.  

• The first Pumped Atom Laser. Nature Physics 4, 731 (2008). At present, this is the only device of its type in the world, producing a high quality atom beam appropriate for application to precision measurement.

• Developed and studied the first single mode continuous Raman atom laser,  Phys. Rev. Lett.  96, 140403 (2006).

• Developed Australia’s first atom laser and recorded first data on classical fluctuations in an atom laser, Phys. Rev. A (R) 69, 051602 (2004).

These achievements were widely covered in the general and science media, links to which can be found on his group website, or see for example Atom Lasers: Atom source for condensate is quantum leap for atom optics, Laser Focus World, Volume 44, 2008).

Humans cannot run particularly fast, or swim particularly far, or jump particularly high. We are at the top of the food chain not because of our physical prowess, but because we measure and observe precisely, make predictions based on our observations, and communicate this information in a sophisticated way. 

Advances in precision measurement punctuate our history and mark major turning points: the calendar and agriculture, the telescope, Copernicus and religion, the chronometer and navigation at sea, the atomic clock and GPS, and the laser and telecommunication.

Nevertheless, precision measurement is a research field that most of society are blissfully unaware of. We all benefit from precision measurement, and we all march to the beat of its drum. Modern atomic clocks, for example, lose or gain about one second in one hundred-million years and are the basis of the global positioning system (GPS).  Our ability to precisely measure length has allowed us to produce ever smaller and faster electronics that form the basis of our mobile phones, our computers and the internet. Precision measurement is at the heart of our technology driven society. 

My research is aimed at using Quantum Mechanics - the strange physics that governs the behaviour of atoms - to prototype new precision measurement devices that offer the promise of dramatically surpassing current technologies.  In the near future, applications can be expected in mineral exploration, and navigation systems both on earth and in space.

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