DrCharles Baynham
Advanced Research Fellow
Department of Physics - Faculty of Natural Sciences
Orcid identifier0000-0003-4191-8486 (opens in a new tab)
- Advanced Research FellowDepartment of Physics - Faculty of Natural Sciences
- 514, Blackett Laboratory, South Kensington Campus, United Kingdom
RESEARCH
USOC
Since joining Imperial, Baynham has begun a collaboration with Dr. Richard Hobson, founding and operating the Ultracold Strontium Laboratory. Together they have launched the Ultra-precise Shock-resistant Optical Clocks (USOC) project which uses meta-stable states of strontium to prepare a continuous stream of ultracold atoms and to use these atoms to realise a zero-deadtime atomic clock. These advances will bring dual advantages of a step-change in clock precision as well as relaxing constraints on the most difficult to miniaturise component in at atomic clock - the ultrastable optical cavity. He hopes to use this technology to bring the world's best clocks into the field, one day using them to detect seismic activity that could save lives.
AION
In parallel, Baynham plays a leading role in the AION collaboration where he aims to perform long-baseline atom interferometry with resolution beyond the standard quantum limit and to use this in the search for ultralight dark matter and mid-band gravitational waves. To reach the demanding levels of precision required by AION, Baynham focusses on the preparation of squeezed states of matter to circumvent the standard quantum limit in reading out the interferometer's phase. It is his dream that these signals will one day spot black holes from millions of light years away, and teach us about the universe's most early moments, with the potential to transform our understanding of physics.
Since joining Imperial, Baynham has begun a collaboration with Dr. Richard Hobson, founding and operating the Ultracold Strontium Laboratory. Together they have launched the Ultra-precise Shock-resistant Optical Clocks (USOC) project which uses meta-stable states of strontium to prepare a continuous stream of ultracold atoms and to use these atoms to realise a zero-deadtime atomic clock. These advances will bring dual advantages of a step-change in clock precision as well as relaxing constraints on the most difficult to miniaturise component in at atomic clock - the ultrastable optical cavity. He hopes to use this technology to bring the world's best clocks into the field, one day using them to detect seismic activity that could save lives.
AION
In parallel, Baynham plays a leading role in the AION collaboration where he aims to perform long-baseline atom interferometry with resolution beyond the standard quantum limit and to use this in the search for ultralight dark matter and mid-band gravitational waves. To reach the demanding levels of precision required by AION, Baynham focusses on the preparation of squeezed states of matter to circumvent the standard quantum limit in reading out the interferometer's phase. It is his dream that these signals will one day spot black holes from millions of light years away, and teach us about the universe's most early moments, with the potential to transform our understanding of physics.