Tian Xia
txia@hfnl.cn
Education
2004-2010 Ph.D. in Atomic Physics, Princeton University
2000-2004 Bachelor's Degree in Electronic Science and Technology, Tsinghua University
Experience
2024-Present Researcher, Hefei National Laboratory
2015-2024 Associate Researcher, University of Science and Technology of China
2010-2015 Postdoctoral associate, University of Wisconsin, Madison
Overview of Academic Research
Systematic research has been conducted in the field of quantum precision measurement, focusing on critical technical challenges such as atomic spin manipulation precision and atomic trap loading efficiency. Using atomic optics methods to break through bottlenecks, a series of significant achievements have been made:
* Performed measurements of the permanent electric dipole moment (EDM) in ytterbium-171 atoms using cold-atom methods and established an upper limit for the nuclear Schiff moment of ytterbium-171.
* Prepared Schrödinger cat states using ytterbium-173 atomic spins in an optical lattice, achieving a coherence time exceeding 20 minutes—resolving the decoherence problem of high-spin atoms in optical traps.
* Achieved single-atom-level sensitivity for detecting the ultra-rare isotope calcium-41 using atom trap trace analysis, overcoming technical challenges in calcium-41 isotopic analysis for typical samples (e.g., bones, rocks, seawater).
Research Directions/Fields:
1. Testing for symmetry violations in fundamental interactions and searching for new physics beyond the Standard Model by measuring atomic permanent electric dipole moments.
2. Manipulating atomic spin states via laser, microwave, and electromagnetic field techniques.
3. quantum computing based on neutral atoms confined in optical tweezer arrays
Major Honors and Awards
2004-2008 Gordon-Wu Fellow
2008-2010 PPST Award
2024Physical Review X Reviewer Excellence 2024 Award
Representative Publications
1. Xia, T. et al. Randomized Benchmarking of Single-Qubit Gates in a 2D Array of Neutral-Atom Qubits. Physical Review Letters 114, 100503 (2015)
2. Zheng, T. A. et al. Measurement of the Electric Dipole Moment of 171Yb Atoms in an Optical Dipole Trap. Physical Review Letters 129, 083001 (2022).
3. Xia, T.-Y. et al. Atom-trap trace analysis of 41Ca/Ca down to the 10–17 level. Nature Physics 19, 904–908 (2023).
4. Yang, Y.-A. et al. Minute-scale Schrödinger-cat state of spin-5/2 atoms. Nature Photonics 19, 89–94 (2025).
5. Wang, S.-Z. et al. Observation of the electric Breit–Rabi effect. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in press (2025)