Morgan W. Mitchell

Morgan Mitchell was born in Silicon Valley in 1968, just one day before Intel was founded. He built his first computer (a Heathkit H89, clock speed 2.048 MHz) at age 14. He published his first scientific article, “Quantitative topographic analysis of fractal surfaces by scanning tunneling microscopy,” at 21. He received his PhD in Physics from the University of California at Berkeley in 1999, for studies of photon-photon scattering in atomic vapors. After post-doctoral stays in the groups of Serge Haroche in Paris and Aephraim Steinberg in Toronto, he joined ICFO as a group leader in 2004. His research has focused on quantum optics with atoms, especially quantum-enhanced sensing. Notable results include the first use of squeezed light in an atomic magnetometer, the first magnetic sensor using spin squeezing, the first true quantum non-demolition measurement on a material system and the first interaction-based measurements. He has set speed records in entangled photon generation and quantum random number generation. He has advised PhD students from Poland, Serbia, Germany, Italy, France, Iran, Mexico, Canada, USA, Spain and New Zealand.