Anne Curtis

E Anne Curtis is an experimental physicist working in the Time & Frequency Department. She received her PhD from the University of Colorado for development of a calcium optical atomic clock at NIST, Boulder in the USA. After a 3-year Royal Society USA Fellowship at Imperial College London developing “atom chip” technologies for BECs and other integrated optics applications, she joined NPL to start a neutral atom optical clock programme.

Anne presents invited talks and tutorial sessions at international conferences and for the general public in the areas of optical atomic clocks and molecular spectroscopy methods for trace gas detection. She works on single-ion systems for optical frequency metrology, tests of fundamental physics and redefinition of the SI second. She is developing a Photonic Technologies for Gas Sensing Metrology research programme, bringing together NPL expertise for applications in environmental monitoring and the clean energy and medical sectors, including ultra-sensitive real-time cavity-enhanced gas detection “NICE-OHMS” systems. Anne is also working to develop laser-stabilisation systems for space-based gas sensing, using gas-filled hollow-core fibre photonic technology. 

Anne is the lead for the Quantum Hub of the STEM-Futures secondment programme and a member of the UK Institute of Physics (MInstP).

Areas of interest

• Optical clock development, including composite clock systems and for a redefinition of the SI second and for fundamental physics research (e.g. dark matter and variation of constants)
• Trace gas sensing using high finesse optical cavities and modulation spectroscopy techniques including NICE-OHMS
• Compact laser stabilisation or reference system development, including utilisation of fully-sealed hollow-core fibre-based gas cells
• Quantum technology sector - research and development of quantum sensors, engagement in skills and knowledge development including secondment programme STEM-Futures, industrial engagement, and quantum standards.
• Diversity, Equity and Inclusion - NPL D&I Task Force, Project Juno, Parents’ Network

Key publications

• Measuring the stability of fundamental constants with a network of clocks
  G. Barontini, L. Blackburn, V. Boyer, F. Butuc-Mayer, X. Calmet, J. R. Crespo López-Urrutia, E. A. Curtis, B. Darquié, J. Dunningham, N. J. Fitch, E. M. Forgan, K. Georgiou, P. Gill, R. M. Godun, J. Goldwin, V. Guarrera, A. Harwood, I. R. Hill, R. J. Hendricks, M. Jeong, M. Y. H. Johnson, M. Keller, L. P. Kozhiparambil Sajith, F. Kuipers, H. S. Margolis, C. Mayo, P. Newman, A. O. Parsons, L. Prokhorov, B. I. Robertson, J. Rodewald, M. S. Safronova, B. E. Sauer, M. Schioppo, N. Sherrill, Y. V. Stadnik, K. Szymaniec, M. R. Tarbutt, R. C. Thompson, A. Tofful, J. Tunesi, A. Vecchio, Y. Wang and S. Worm,

• EPJ Quantum Technology 9, 12 (2022). 

• Synchronized to an optical atomic clock
  E. Anne Curtis
  Science 368, 825-826, 2020

• Search for transient variations of the fine structure constant and dark matter using fiber-linked optical atomic clocks
  B. M. Roberts, P. Delva, A. Al-Masoudi, A. Amy-Klein, C. Bærentsen, C. F. A. Baynham, E. Benkler, S. Bilicki, S. Bize, W. Bowden, J. Calvert, V. Cambier, E. Cantin, E. A. Curtis, S. Dörscher, M. Favier, F. Frank, P. Gill, R. M. Godun, G. Grosche, C. Guo, A. Hees, I. R. Hill, R. Hobson, N. Huntemann, J. Kronjäger, S. Koke, A. Kuhl, R. Lange, T. Legero, B. Lipphardt, C. Lisdat, J. Lodewyck, O. Lopez, H. S. Margolis, H. Álvarez-Martínez, F. Meynadier, F. Ozimek, E. Peik, P.-E. Pottie, N. Quintin, C. Sanner, L. De Sarlo, M. Schioppo, R. Schwarz, A. Silva, U. Sterr, Chr. Tamm, R. Le Targat, P. Tuckey, G. Vallet, T. Waterholter, D. Xu, P. Wolf,
  New Journal of Physics 22, 093010 (2020).
   
• Laser frequency stabilization and spectroscopy at 2051 nm using compact CO₂-filled Kagome hollow core fiber gas cells
  E.A. Curtis, T. Bradley, G.P. Barwood, C.S. Edwards, N.V. Wheeler, R. Phelan, D.J. Richardson, M.N. Petrovich and P. Gill
  Optics Express 26, 28621-28633 (2018)
   
• Ultra-high-finesse NICE-OHMS spectroscopy at 1532 nm for calibrated online ammonia detection
  E. A. Curtis, G. P. Barwood, G. Huang, C. S. Edwards, B. Gieseking, and P. J. Brewer
  Journal of the Optical Society of America B 34(5), 950-958 (2017)

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