Tanya Zelevinsky is a professor of physics at

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

. Her research focuses on high-precision spectroscopy of cold molecules for fundamental physics measurements, including molecular lattice clocks, ultracold molecule photodissociation, as well as cooling and quantum state manipulation techniques for diatomic molecules with the goal of testing the

Standard Model The Standard Model of particle physics is the Scientific theory, theory describing three of the four known fundamental forces (electromagnetism, electromagnetic, weak interaction, weak and strong interactions – excluding gravity) in the unive ...

of particle physics. Zelevinsky graduated from MIT in 1999 and received her Ph.D. from Harvard University in 2004 with

Gerald Gabrielse Gerald Gabrielse is an Americans, American physicist. He is the Board of Trustees Professor of Physics and director of the Center for Fundamental Physics at Northwestern University, and Emeritus George Vasmer Leverett Professor of Physics at Harv ...

as her thesis advisor. Subsequently, she worked as a post-doctoral research associate at the Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics ( JILA) with Jun Ye on atomic lattice clocks. She joined Columbia University as an associate professor of physics in 2008. Professor Zelevinsky became a Fellow of the American Physical Society in 2018 and received the Francis M. Pipkin Award in 2019.

Research

Zelevinsky is known for her pioneering experiments with ultracold strontium, an alkaline earth element. Zelevinsky performed seminal work on the strontium optical lattice clock in the group of Jun Ye at JILA and was the first to use narrow-linewidth laser light to create diatomic molecules of this class in an optical lattice at ultracold temperatures, determining their molecular binding energies to a greater precision than was previously achievable in molecular beam and heat-pipe studies. This has the potential to furnish an ensemble of molecular clocks where quantized molecular vibrations determine the 'ticking' rate. Together with Robert Moszyński and her students, Zelevinsky settled a long-standing question about the role of quantum interference in the angular patterns of molecular photofragments. At a temperature of tens of millikelvin, the work constitutes one of the first clear demonstrations of quantum

photochemistry Photochemistry is the branch of chemistry concerned with the chemical effects of light. Generally, this term is used to describe a chemical reaction caused by absorption of ultraviolet (wavelength from 100 to 400 Nanometre, nm), visible ligh ...

. Additionally, Zelevinsky is exploring ways to experimentally cool molecules in order to manipulate and study them using a combination of buffer gas cooling and laser cooling with the goal of creating magneto-optical traps of exotic gases. Zelevinsky is also one of the principal investigators of the CeNTREX collaboration with

David DeMille David P. DeMille is an American physicist and Professor of Physics at the University of Chicago. He is best known for his use of polar diatomic molecules to search for symmetry-violating effects within the molecules and as a means for manipula ...

to search for the deformation in the shape of atomic nuclei known as a Schiff moment using the thallium fluoride molecule.

Education

While an undergraduate at

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

, Zelevinsky attended a summer school on atomic physics in Los Alamos. She recalls this as an important part of her career and said "I really enjoyed the fact that only two or three investigators work on the experiments and that one can experience and understand the whole project".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zelevinsky, Tanya Columbia University faculty Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni Harvard University alumni Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Fellows of the American Physical Society Recipients of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers