C Stuart Adams
@etotheipiequals.bsky.social
Physicist. Durham University. Author of Opticsf2f.
Reposted by C Stuart Adams
Got around to building a little website for my new activity on quantum networking with Yb at @durhamqlm.bsky.social, funded by my EPSRC Quantum Technologies Career Acceleration Fellowship: durham-qlm.uk/research/tec...
October 6, 2025 at 8:48 PM
Got around to building a little website for my new activity on quantum networking with Yb at @durhamqlm.bsky.social, funded by my EPSRC Quantum Technologies Career Acceleration Fellowship: durham-qlm.uk/research/tec...
Reposted by C Stuart Adams
Congratulations to Oliver Hughes on passing his viva. Thesis entitled "Preparation and Coherent
Control of a Rydberg Qutrit in
a Cold Atomic Ensemble". Supervised by @etotheipiequals.bsky.social and @kjweatherill.bsky.social
Seen here with Stuart and internal examiner @ifanghughes.bsky.social
Control of a Rydberg Qutrit in
a Cold Atomic Ensemble". Supervised by @etotheipiequals.bsky.social and @kjweatherill.bsky.social
Seen here with Stuart and internal examiner @ifanghughes.bsky.social
October 7, 2025 at 9:03 PM
Congratulations to Oliver Hughes on passing his viva. Thesis entitled "Preparation and Coherent
Control of a Rydberg Qutrit in
a Cold Atomic Ensemble". Supervised by @etotheipiequals.bsky.social and @kjweatherill.bsky.social
Seen here with Stuart and internal examiner @ifanghughes.bsky.social
Control of a Rydberg Qutrit in
a Cold Atomic Ensemble". Supervised by @etotheipiequals.bsky.social and @kjweatherill.bsky.social
Seen here with Stuart and internal examiner @ifanghughes.bsky.social
Reposted by C Stuart Adams
QLM is hiring! We're looking for a new Assistant Professor in QLM. This position is a theory position. Please find the job description below in this thread.
For any academia-related queries, please contact Ifan Hughes (i.g.hughes@durham.ac.uk). We look forward to receiving your application!
For any academia-related queries, please contact Ifan Hughes (i.g.hughes@durham.ac.uk). We look forward to receiving your application!
October 1, 2025 at 11:58 AM
QLM is hiring! We're looking for a new Assistant Professor in QLM. This position is a theory position. Please find the job description below in this thread.
For any academia-related queries, please contact Ifan Hughes (i.g.hughes@durham.ac.uk). We look forward to receiving your application!
For any academia-related queries, please contact Ifan Hughes (i.g.hughes@durham.ac.uk). We look forward to receiving your application!
Reposted by C Stuart Adams
Hot off the press! Our @durhamqlm.bsky.social results in collaboration with group of @sonjafrankearnold.bsky.social in Glasgow have just been published.
opg.optica.org/directpdfacc...
Atoms, Iasers, big magnets and structured light. What's not to like?
opg.optica.org/directpdfacc...
Atoms, Iasers, big magnets and structured light. What's not to like?
![Polarization profiles and their simulated 3D structures at the
focus. (a) shows examples of the investigated polarization structures,
color coded in purple for radial and yellow for azimuthal polarization
components. From top to bottom: radial Oe , azimuthal Oe [Eq. (2)],
vortices with twofold symmetry Oe2 [Eq. (3)] and vortices with sixfold
symmetry Oe6 [Eq. (4)]. (b) shows the simulated 3D light configurations
for Oe2 at the focus of a lens with NA 0.4. These are displayed in different
polarization bases: Cartesian components (top row); circular and axial
components corresponding to atomic and transitions (middle
row); and radial, azimuthal, and axial polarization (bottom row), highlighting
the conversion of some of the radial input polarization into axial
polarization.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:7okh5mmpt6l7z534hnl4usax/bafkreig53fr7ccgywmhnylkhljb2aijepz6kgmnl7rqleoqedlz7q2e7ta@jpeg)
September 19, 2025 at 10:58 PM
Hot off the press! Our @durhamqlm.bsky.social results in collaboration with group of @sonjafrankearnold.bsky.social in Glasgow have just been published.
opg.optica.org/directpdfacc...
Atoms, Iasers, big magnets and structured light. What's not to like?
opg.optica.org/directpdfacc...
Atoms, Iasers, big magnets and structured light. What's not to like?
Reposted by C Stuart Adams
A strong QLM presence at the recent @instituteofphysics.bsky.social QuAMP 2025 conference in Newcastle. In addition to many contributed talks, @kjweatherill.bsky.social gave an Invited talk "radiofrequency and terahertz sensing and imaging using Rydberg atoms". Both Maddie & Tom won Poster Prizes.
September 15, 2025 at 3:47 PM
A strong QLM presence at the recent @instituteofphysics.bsky.social QuAMP 2025 conference in Newcastle. In addition to many contributed talks, @kjweatherill.bsky.social gave an Invited talk "radiofrequency and terahertz sensing and imaging using Rydberg atoms". Both Maddie & Tom won Poster Prizes.
Reposted by C Stuart Adams
@matplotlib.org is getting more and more interactivity!
"plotjs" converts any existing matplotlib charts to an interactive, web-based version of them, with quite a lot of customization options.
Try it out here: github.com/y-sunflower/...
More examples: y-sunflower.github.io/plotjs/
"plotjs" converts any existing matplotlib charts to an interactive, web-based version of them, with quite a lot of customization options.
Try it out here: github.com/y-sunflower/...
More examples: y-sunflower.github.io/plotjs/
August 15, 2025 at 8:41 AM
@matplotlib.org is getting more and more interactivity!
"plotjs" converts any existing matplotlib charts to an interactive, web-based version of them, with quite a lot of customization options.
Try it out here: github.com/y-sunflower/...
More examples: y-sunflower.github.io/plotjs/
"plotjs" converts any existing matplotlib charts to an interactive, web-based version of them, with quite a lot of customization options.
Try it out here: github.com/y-sunflower/...
More examples: y-sunflower.github.io/plotjs/
Reposted by C Stuart Adams
It's time! Join me in tracking this year's #Arctic sea ice minimum!
Sea ice melt substantially slows every September as solar energy decreases and temperatures drop in the far north.
Follow along with the data at zacklabe.com/arctic-sea-i...
Sea ice melt substantially slows every September as solar energy decreases and temperatures drop in the far north.
Follow along with the data at zacklabe.com/arctic-sea-i...
August 7, 2025 at 12:07 PM
It's time! Join me in tracking this year's #Arctic sea ice minimum!
Sea ice melt substantially slows every September as solar energy decreases and temperatures drop in the far north.
Follow along with the data at zacklabe.com/arctic-sea-i...
Sea ice melt substantially slows every September as solar energy decreases and temperatures drop in the far north.
Follow along with the data at zacklabe.com/arctic-sea-i...
Reposted by C Stuart Adams
Colored droplets in corn syrup seemingly blended together can be returned to their original state by reversing the direction of mixing, a form of laminar flow called "Stokes flow".
Credit: UNM Physics & Astronomy
Credit: UNM Physics & Astronomy
July 14, 2025 at 11:54 PM
Colored droplets in corn syrup seemingly blended together can be returned to their original state by reversing the direction of mixing, a form of laminar flow called "Stokes flow".
Credit: UNM Physics & Astronomy
Credit: UNM Physics & Astronomy
The measurement of CO2 on Mauna Loa began in 1958. In terms of duration, the quality of the data and impact, it is the greatest experiment in the history of science.
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles...
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles...
July 1, 2025 at 7:39 AM
The measurement of CO2 on Mauna Loa began in 1958. In terms of duration, the quality of the data and impact, it is the greatest experiment in the history of science.
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles...
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles...
Reposted by C Stuart Adams
How would you respond if your lab got destroyed by a missile?
"I wish that a day will come very, very soon in which Iranian scientists and Israeli scientists will collaborate and work together and perform scientific research for the future of mankind."
apnews.com/article/isra...
"I wish that a day will come very, very soon in which Iranian scientists and Israeli scientists will collaborate and work together and perform scientific research for the future of mankind."
apnews.com/article/isra...
June 22, 2025 at 7:42 AM
How would you respond if your lab got destroyed by a missile?
"I wish that a day will come very, very soon in which Iranian scientists and Israeli scientists will collaborate and work together and perform scientific research for the future of mankind."
apnews.com/article/isra...
"I wish that a day will come very, very soon in which Iranian scientists and Israeli scientists will collaborate and work together and perform scientific research for the future of mankind."
apnews.com/article/isra...
Reposted by C Stuart Adams
The largest number of climate stripes outfits in one place?
@cycling4climate.bsky.social organise popular cycling and running events in the Netherlands for #ShowYourStripes day!
@cycling4climate.bsky.social organise popular cycling and running events in the Netherlands for #ShowYourStripes day!
June 20, 2025 at 8:25 PM
The largest number of climate stripes outfits in one place?
@cycling4climate.bsky.social organise popular cycling and running events in the Netherlands for #ShowYourStripes day!
@cycling4climate.bsky.social organise popular cycling and running events in the Netherlands for #ShowYourStripes day!
Reposted by C Stuart Adams
Imagine being Hasret Icsen. You pay $1,015/month for a 3-bedroom apartment in a green, mixed-income building full of amenities. When you touch your home, you're touching climate progress.
This is Vienna's green social housing. As @NPR explains, we could do it here
www.npr.org/2025/06/15/n...
This is Vienna's green social housing. As @NPR explains, we could do it here
www.npr.org/2025/06/15/n...
June 16, 2025 at 7:47 PM
Imagine being Hasret Icsen. You pay $1,015/month for a 3-bedroom apartment in a green, mixed-income building full of amenities. When you touch your home, you're touching climate progress.
This is Vienna's green social housing. As @NPR explains, we could do it here
www.npr.org/2025/06/15/n...
This is Vienna's green social housing. As @NPR explains, we could do it here
www.npr.org/2025/06/15/n...
Reposted by C Stuart Adams
I would love to think that everyone has known for a long time that LLMs aren't going to lead to "general intelligence," but all the evidence suggests there are plenty of people who resist this, so it's good to have a paper from researchers Apple making the point strongly.
There's a lot of big news today/this week, but Apple just dropped a nuke of a paper about LLMs & LRMs, specially around "high-complexity tasks where both models experience complete collapse." This is the biggest sign yet that if AI ever lives up the hype, it won't be via those approaches:
The Illusion of Thinking: Understanding the Strengths and Limitations of Reasoning Models via the Lens of Problem Complexity
Recent generations of frontier language models have introduced Large Reasoning Models
(LRMs) that generate detailed thinking processes…
machinelearning.apple.com
June 9, 2025 at 2:24 PM
I would love to think that everyone has known for a long time that LLMs aren't going to lead to "general intelligence," but all the evidence suggests there are plenty of people who resist this, so it's good to have a paper from researchers Apple making the point strongly.
Reposted by C Stuart Adams
🧪⚛️ There is a serious disagreement btw experiment and theory in understanding the ionization energy of a particularly excited state of helium. This is one to watch, though caution is always advised, as anomalies like this historically tend to go away. nanoscale.blogspot.com/2025/06/a-pr...
A precision measurement science mystery - new physics or incomplete calculations?
Again, as a distraction from persistently concerning news, here is a science mystery of which I was previously unaware. The role of approxim...
nanoscale.blogspot.com
June 7, 2025 at 6:58 PM
🧪⚛️ There is a serious disagreement btw experiment and theory in understanding the ionization energy of a particularly excited state of helium. This is one to watch, though caution is always advised, as anomalies like this historically tend to go away. nanoscale.blogspot.com/2025/06/a-pr...
Reposted by C Stuart Adams
New results!
Visualizing strongly focused 3D light fields in an atomic vapor
arxiv.org/abs/2506.01680
Performed with colleagues at
@durhamqlm.bsky.social and @sonjafrankearnold.bsky.social
Atoms, lasers, magnets and shaped light!
🧪 #physics ⚛️ #optics 💡
Visualizing strongly focused 3D light fields in an atomic vapor
arxiv.org/abs/2506.01680
Performed with colleagues at
@durhamqlm.bsky.social and @sonjafrankearnold.bsky.social
Atoms, lasers, magnets and shaped light!
🧪 #physics ⚛️ #optics 💡
June 4, 2025 at 9:03 AM
New results!
Visualizing strongly focused 3D light fields in an atomic vapor
arxiv.org/abs/2506.01680
Performed with colleagues at
@durhamqlm.bsky.social and @sonjafrankearnold.bsky.social
Atoms, lasers, magnets and shaped light!
🧪 #physics ⚛️ #optics 💡
Visualizing strongly focused 3D light fields in an atomic vapor
arxiv.org/abs/2506.01680
Performed with colleagues at
@durhamqlm.bsky.social and @sonjafrankearnold.bsky.social
Atoms, lasers, magnets and shaped light!
🧪 #physics ⚛️ #optics 💡
Reposted by C Stuart Adams
#PhysicsFactlet
A Shack-Hartmann sensor is a simple and widely used device to measure the phase profile of a wavefront (aka "where the light is coming from").
A mini 🧵
1/
#Optics #Physics
A Shack-Hartmann sensor is a simple and widely used device to measure the phase profile of a wavefront (aka "where the light is coming from").
A mini 🧵
1/
#Optics #Physics
May 27, 2025 at 9:28 AM
#PhysicsFactlet
A Shack-Hartmann sensor is a simple and widely used device to measure the phase profile of a wavefront (aka "where the light is coming from").
A mini 🧵
1/
#Optics #Physics
A Shack-Hartmann sensor is a simple and widely used device to measure the phase profile of a wavefront (aka "where the light is coming from").
A mini 🧵
1/
#Optics #Physics
Reposted by C Stuart Adams
The "Copernican Revolution" - the shift away from thinking that Earth sits at the centre of the universe - took ~200 years.
Darwin's The Descent of Man was published in 1871. When will we complete the next revolution - of realising that we're bit players in nature even on Earth?
Fig: Bar-On, 2018
Darwin's The Descent of Man was published in 1871. When will we complete the next revolution - of realising that we're bit players in nature even on Earth?
Fig: Bar-On, 2018
May 26, 2025 at 2:03 PM
The "Copernican Revolution" - the shift away from thinking that Earth sits at the centre of the universe - took ~200 years.
Darwin's The Descent of Man was published in 1871. When will we complete the next revolution - of realising that we're bit players in nature even on Earth?
Fig: Bar-On, 2018
Darwin's The Descent of Man was published in 1871. When will we complete the next revolution - of realising that we're bit players in nature even on Earth?
Fig: Bar-On, 2018
Reposted by C Stuart Adams
Even if you don't care one bit about scientific research, it's important to recognise the value of publicly funding people working on very hard problems and training bright young minds on how to solve them.
May 25, 2025 at 9:25 AM
Even if you don't care one bit about scientific research, it's important to recognise the value of publicly funding people working on very hard problems and training bright young minds on how to solve them.
Reposted by C Stuart Adams
On Friday 2nd May we held an event to celebrate 30 years since forming the experimental side of the QLM research section and former head of section @etotheipiequals.bsky.social special birthday. Here current head of section @ifanghughes.bsky.social is seen congratulating him.
May 3, 2025 at 11:37 AM
On Friday 2nd May we held an event to celebrate 30 years since forming the experimental side of the QLM research section and former head of section @etotheipiequals.bsky.social special birthday. Here current head of section @ifanghughes.bsky.social is seen congratulating him.
Quantum Optics interview with Nikola Šibalić
YouTube video by IOP Publishing
m.youtube.com
April 9, 2025 at 4:20 PM
Reposted by C Stuart Adams
1/2
21 March 1768: mathematician and physicist Jean-Baptiste Joseph Fourier was born.
"The profound study of nature is the most fruitful source of mathematical discoveries."
— Joseph Fourier
A biography➡️ mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/...
🧪 ⚛️ #mathematicians #histsci
21 March 1768: mathematician and physicist Jean-Baptiste Joseph Fourier was born.
"The profound study of nature is the most fruitful source of mathematical discoveries."
— Joseph Fourier
A biography➡️ mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/...
🧪 ⚛️ #mathematicians #histsci
March 21, 2025 at 9:25 PM
1/2
21 March 1768: mathematician and physicist Jean-Baptiste Joseph Fourier was born.
"The profound study of nature is the most fruitful source of mathematical discoveries."
— Joseph Fourier
A biography➡️ mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/...
🧪 ⚛️ #mathematicians #histsci
21 March 1768: mathematician and physicist Jean-Baptiste Joseph Fourier was born.
"The profound study of nature is the most fruitful source of mathematical discoveries."
— Joseph Fourier
A biography➡️ mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/...
🧪 ⚛️ #mathematicians #histsci
Reposted by C Stuart Adams
This is the last week of Fourier Optics course. We started with Fourier and his idea of building every function from plane waves. We saw some spatial filtering, temporal and spatial coherence, and discussed recent Nobel Prizes in physics. Quite a journey!
🧪 #physics ⚛️ #optics 💡 #iTeachPhysics 🎢
🧪 #physics ⚛️ #optics 💡 #iTeachPhysics 🎢
March 16, 2025 at 1:12 PM
This is the last week of Fourier Optics course. We started with Fourier and his idea of building every function from plane waves. We saw some spatial filtering, temporal and spatial coherence, and discussed recent Nobel Prizes in physics. Quite a journey!
🧪 #physics ⚛️ #optics 💡 #iTeachPhysics 🎢
🧪 #physics ⚛️ #optics 💡 #iTeachPhysics 🎢
Reposted by C Stuart Adams
In this week's Fourier Optics course we consider the propagation and focusing of laser beams.
🧪 #physics ⚛️ #optics 💡 #iTeachPhysics 🎢
🧪 #physics ⚛️ #optics 💡 #iTeachPhysics 🎢
March 9, 2025 at 10:59 AM
In this week's Fourier Optics course we consider the propagation and focusing of laser beams.
🧪 #physics ⚛️ #optics 💡 #iTeachPhysics 🎢
🧪 #physics ⚛️ #optics 💡 #iTeachPhysics 🎢
Reposted by C Stuart Adams
A common sin of scientific reporting is overstating the impact of research. It is always harmful when someone promises to solve the climate change with a quantum computer. The Microsoft press release news.microsoft.com/source/featu..., however, is especially cynical and bad. 1/2
Microsoft’s Majorana 1 chip carves new path for quantum computing - Source
Majorana 1, the first quantum chip powered by a new Topological Core architecture
news.microsoft.com
March 3, 2025 at 10:23 AM
A common sin of scientific reporting is overstating the impact of research. It is always harmful when someone promises to solve the climate change with a quantum computer. The Microsoft press release news.microsoft.com/source/featu..., however, is especially cynical and bad. 1/2
Reposted by C Stuart Adams
This week's Fourier Optics course features coherence (temporal and spatial).
My favourite image (@etotheipiequals.bsky.social)
to illustrate these concepts is Young's double slits with white light.
🧪 #physics ⚛️ #optics 💡 #iTeachPhysics 🎢
My favourite image (@etotheipiequals.bsky.social)
to illustrate these concepts is Young's double slits with white light.
🧪 #physics ⚛️ #optics 💡 #iTeachPhysics 🎢
March 2, 2025 at 10:12 AM
This week's Fourier Optics course features coherence (temporal and spatial).
My favourite image (@etotheipiequals.bsky.social)
to illustrate these concepts is Young's double slits with white light.
🧪 #physics ⚛️ #optics 💡 #iTeachPhysics 🎢
My favourite image (@etotheipiequals.bsky.social)
to illustrate these concepts is Young's double slits with white light.
🧪 #physics ⚛️ #optics 💡 #iTeachPhysics 🎢