Jonathan P. Dowling (3 April 1955 – 5 June 2020) was an Irish-American researcher and professor in theoretical physics, known for his work on

quantum technology Quantum engineering is the development of technology that capitalizes on the laws of quantum mechanics. This type of engineering uses quantum mechanics to develop technologies such as quantum sensors and quantum computers. Devices that rely on ...

, particularly for exploiting

quantum entanglement Quantum entanglement is the phenomenon where the quantum state of each Subatomic particle, particle in a group cannot be described independently of the state of the others, even when the particles are separated by a large distance. The topic o ...

(in the form of a

NOON state In quantum optics, a NOON state or N00N state is a quantum-mechanical many-body entangled state: : , \text \rangle = \frac, \, which represents a superposition of ''N'' particles in mode ''a'' with zero particles in mode ''b'', and vice ver ...

) for applications to

quantum metrology Quantum metrology is the study of making high-resolution and highly sensitive measurements of physical parameters using quantum theory to describe the physical systems, particularly exploiting quantum entanglement and quantum Squeezed coherent s ...

, quantum sensing, and

quantum imaging Quantum imaging is a new sub-field of quantum optics that exploits quantum correlations such as quantum entanglement of the electromagnetic field in order to image objects with a resolution or other imaging criteria that is beyond what is possible ...

Career

Dowling obtained a PhD in 1988 from the University of Colorado-Boulder. He worked at the

Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics The Max-Planck-Institute of Quantum Optics (abbreviation: MPQ; ) is a part of the Max Planck Society which operates 87 research facilities in Germany. The institute is located in Garching, Germany, which in turn is located 10 km north-eas ...

, the

United States Army Aviation and Missile Command The United States Army Aviation and Missile Command (AMCOM) is a research and development and product management command of the United States Army. It develops, acquires, fields and sustains aviation, missile and unmanned aerial vehicles. AMCOM ...

, the NASA

Jet Propulsion Laboratory The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is a Federally funded research and development centers, federally funded research and development center (FFRDC) in La Cañada Flintridge, California, Crescenta Valley, United States. Founded in 1936 by Cali ...

, and the

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as Louisiana State University (LSU), is an American Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louis ...

. Dowling was one of the founders of the US Government program in quantum computing and

quantum cryptography Quantum cryptography is the science of exploiting quantum mechanical properties to perform cryptographic tasks. The best known example of quantum cryptography is quantum key distribution, which offers an information-theoretically secure soluti ...

. Dowling was the co-director of the Horace Hearne Institute for Theoretical Physics and a Hearne chair in theoretical physics at the department of physics and astronomy, both at

Research

Dowling authored scientific publications in

quantum electrodynamics In particle physics, quantum electrodynamics (QED) is the Theory of relativity, relativistic quantum field theory of electrodynamics. In essence, it describes how light and matter interact and is the first theory where full agreement between quant ...

quantum optics Quantum optics is a branch of atomic, molecular, and optical physics and quantum chemistry that studies the behavior of photons (individual quanta of light). It includes the study of the particle-like properties of photons and their interaction ...

, and

. At the time of his death, his publications had been cited over 20,200 times, with a

Hirsch index The ''h''-index is an author-level metric that measures both the productivity and citation impact of the publications, initially used for an individual scientist or scholar. The ''h''-index correlates with success indicators such as winning the ...

of 64. Dowling published papers are on the topics of

Linear optical quantum computing Linear optical quantum computing or linear optics quantum computation (LOQC), also photonic quantum computing (PQC), is a paradigm of Quantum computing, quantum computation, allowing (under certain conditions, described below) universal quantum com ...

quantum lithography Quantum lithography is a type of photolithography, which exploits non-classical properties of the photons, such as quantum entanglement, in order to achieve superior performance over ordinary classical lithography. Quantum lithography is closely ...

, optical switching in

photonic crystals A photonic crystal is an optical nanostructure in which the refractive index changes periodically. This affects the propagation of light in the same way that the structure of natural crystals gives rise to X-ray diffraction and that the atomic ...

, and the photonic band-edge laser. Dowling also researched the quantum theory of atomic

spontaneous emission Spontaneous emission is the process in which a Quantum mechanics, quantum mechanical system (such as a molecule, an atom or a subatomic particle) transits from an excited state, excited energy state to a lower energy state (e.g., its ground state ...

and other quantum electrodynamics effects in optical micro-cavities and photonic crystals, as well as optical

quantum computing A quantum computer is a computer that exploits quantum mechanical phenomena. On small scales, physical matter exhibits properties of wave-particle duality, both particles and waves, and quantum computing takes advantage of this behavior using s ...

, and quantum sensing.

Awards and recognition

* Fellow,

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is a United States–based international nonprofit with the stated mission of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsib ...

*Fellow,

American Physical Society The American Physical Society (APS) is a not-for-profit membership organization of professionals in physics and related disciplines, comprising nearly fifty divisions, sections, and other units. Its mission is the advancement and diffusion of ...

*Fellow,

The Optical Society Optica, founded as the Optical Society of America (later the Optical Society), is a professional society of individuals and companies with an interest in optics and photonics. It publishes journals, organizes conferences and exhibitions, and ca ...

*Willis Lamb Award for Laser Science and Quantum Optics, 2002 *LSU Foundation Distinguished Faculty Teaching Award, 2012 *Undergraduate Physics & Astronomy Majors Teaching Award, 2013 *Department of Physics and Astronomy Graduate Faculty Teaching Award in 2017

Publications

Dowling is the author of a

popular science Popular science (also called pop-science or popsci) is an interpretation of science intended for a general audience. While science journalism focuses on recent scientific developments, popular science is more broad ranging. It may be written ...

book, "Schrödinger's Killer App – Race to Build the World's First Quantum Computer". A story in this book about early motivations for funding

by the United States military was illustrated by

Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal ''Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal'' (''SMBC'') is a webcomic by Zach Weinersmith. The gag-a-day comic features few recurring characters or storylines, and has no set format; some strips may be a single panel, while others may go on for ten pan ...

following his death. Additionally, this book formulated what is known as the Dowling-Neven Law, regarding the classical cost of simulating quantum computers growing doubly exponentially in time, given that the number of qubits on current quantum computers is currently growing exponentially with time. The first book's sequel, "Schrödinger's Web: Race to Build the Quantum Internet", has been released posthumously. Dowling co-authored a 2003 paper which predicted a boom in quantum technologies."Quantum technology: the second quantum revolution," by Jonathan P. Dowling & Gerard J. Milburn; Published 15 August 2003; DOI:10.1098/rsta.2003.122

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References

External links

Dowling's home page
at LSU.
Dowling's group page
at LSU. {{DEFAULTSORT:Dowling, Jonathan Quantum physicists 21st-century American physicists Irish physicists Louisiana State University faculty Theoretical physicists 1955 births 2020 deaths Quantum information scientists