Jean-Michel Raimond (born in
Orléans) is a French
physicist
A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe.
Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate ca ...
working in the field of
quantum mechanics
Quantum mechanics is a fundamental theory in physics that provides a description of the physical properties of nature at the scale of atoms and subatomic particles. It is the foundation of all quantum physics including quantum chemistry, q ...
.
Biography
Raimond enrolled at the
École normale supérieure (rue d'Ulm) (ENS) in 1975. After graduating with a DEA in atomic and molecular physics, his first research work was in
superradiance and
Rydberg atoms
A Rydberg atom is an excited atom with one or more electrons that have a very high principal quantum number, ''n''. The higher the value of ''n'', the farther the electron is from the nucleus, on average. Rydberg atoms have a number of peculia ...
.
He became Research Associate and Research Fellow at the
Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS), working under
Serge Haroche
Serge Haroche (born 11 September 1944) is a French-Moroccan physicist who was awarded the 2012 Nobel Prize for Physics jointly with David J. Wineland for "ground-breaking experimental methods that enable measuring and manipulation of individual ...
towards his 1984 thesis ("Radiative properties of Rydberg atoms in a resonant cavity").
Since 1988, he has taught at the
Université Pierre-et-Marie-Curie.
From 1994 to 1999, he was a junior member of the
Institut universitaire de France.
From 2001 to 2011, he was a senior member and held the chair of
quantum optics.
From 2004 to 2009, he was head of the Department of Physics at the
École normale supérieure (rue d'Ulm).
Raimond specialised in
atomic physics and
quantum optics as a member of the
Kastler-Brossel Laboratory in the , which he ran with the 2012
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfre ...
winner
Serge Haroche
Serge Haroche (born 11 September 1944) is a French-Moroccan physicist who was awarded the 2012 Nobel Prize for Physics jointly with David J. Wineland for "ground-breaking experimental methods that enable measuring and manipulation of individual ...
and
Michel Brune
Michel may refer to:
* Michel (name), a given name or surname of French origin (and list of people with the name)
* MÃchel (nickname), a nickname (a list of people with the nickname, mainly Spanish footballers)
* MÃchel (footballer, born 1963), S ...
.
He became interested in
Rydberg atoms
A Rydberg atom is an excited atom with one or more electrons that have a very high principal quantum number, ''n''. The higher the value of ''n'', the farther the electron is from the nucleus, on average. Rydberg atoms have a number of peculia ...
, because their relatively large size and sensitivity to
microwave radiation makes them particularly suited to studies of
matter/energy interaction. He demonstrated that these atoms, coupled to superconducting cavities containing some
photon
A photon () is an elementary particle that is a quantum of the electromagnetic field, including electromagnetic radiation such as light and radio waves, and the force carrier for the electromagnetic force. Photons are Massless particle, massless ...
s, are ideal systems for testing the laws of
quantum decoherence
Quantum decoherence is the loss of quantum coherence. In quantum mechanics, particles such as electrons are described by a wave function, a mathematical representation of the quantum state of a system; a probabilistic interpretation of the ...
and for demonstrating the possibility of constructing the components of
quantum logic, with promising results for their use in
informatics
Informatics is the study of computational systems, especially those for data storage and retrieval. According to ACM ''Europe and'' ''Informatics Europe'', informatics is synonymous with computer science and computing as a profession, in which t ...
.
His most recent work, quoted in the 2012 Nobel Prize-winning work, allows photons to be counted in the cavity without their being destroyed, thus directly demonstrating the quantum
measurement problem. This ideal measure also helps combat
quantum decoherence
Quantum decoherence is the loss of quantum coherence. In quantum mechanics, particles such as electrons are described by a wave function, a mathematical representation of the quantum state of a system; a probabilistic interpretation of the ...
with a
quantum feedback Quantum feedback or quantum feedback control is a class of methods to prepare and manipulate a quantum system in which that system's quantum state or trajectory is used to evolve the system towards some desired outcome. Just as in the classical case ...
scheme which keeps the number of photons in the cavity constant.
Raimond is the son of
Michel Raimond
Michel may refer to:
* Michel (name), a given name or surname of French origin (and list of people with the name)
* MÃchel (nickname), a nickname (a list of people with the nickname, mainly Spanish footballers)
* MÃchel (footballer, born 1963), S ...
, late professor of
French literature
French literature () generally speaking, is literature written in the French language, particularly by citizens of France; it may also refer to literature written by people living in France who speak traditional languages of France other than Fr ...
at the
Sorbonne.
Awards
* Prix Fernand Holweck by the
Académie des sciences (1985)
* Grand
prix Ampère de l'Électricité de France
Prix was an American power pop band formed in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1975 by Tommy Hoehn and Jon Tiven. The group ended up primarily as a studio project. Its recordings were produced by Tiven along with former Big Star member Chris Bell, who als ...
, given by the
Académie des sciences, with M. Brune (1998)
* Grand
Prix Jean-Ricard
The prix Jean-Ricard is a prize awarded by the Société française de physique (SFP) to a French physicist for remarkable and original work. Jean Ricard, alumnus of École Polytechnique, engineer Supélec, École supérieure d'électricité (E.S.E ...
by the
Société française de physique (2007)
* Gay-Lussac-Humboldt research award by the
Fondation Alexander von Humboldt (2012)
* European Physical Society Edison-Volta prize (2014)
*
Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur
* Officer of the
Ordre des Palmes Académiques
Principal publications
* In this experiment, for the first time,
wave function collapse was observed using quantum mechanical methods.
*). Peer reviewed article describing in particular quantum logical operations.
*
* First ideal measurement (i.e. without quantum demolition) of the number of photons in a cavity.
*
* First demonstration of a quantum retroaction schema in a quantum continuum.
References
External links
*
Cavity Quantum Electro Dynamics*
Conférence Ernest - Promenade dans le monde quantique
{{DEFAULTSORT:Raimond, Jean-Michel
1955 births
Living people
École Normale Supérieure alumni
Academic staff of the École Normale Supérieure
French physicists
Scientists from Orléans
Quantum physicists
Fellows of the American Physical Society