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Dr Calum MacCormick

Profile summary

  • Central Academic Staff
  • Lecturer in Physics
  • Faculty of Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics
  • School of Physical Sciences
  • calum.maccormick

Professional biography

I began my research career at the University of Sussex where I performed experiments on Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) for my DPhil. After Sussex, I continued my BEC research at Los Alamos National Laboratory, where I helped develop a useful optical trapping technique, especially suited to dynamic experiments with BEC. I came to the Open University in 2008 to work with Silvia Bergamini on her new ultra-cold Rydberg atoms project. I continue to work on Rydberg atoms - at present we are trying to further cool our optically trapped atoms using a technique known as "gray molasses", in which promises to achieve very cold final temperatures.

Teaching interests

Most of my OU teaching concerns Quantum mechanics, and I was excited to introduce the topic of quantum computing to our 3rd level teaching (SM380 Quantum Physics). I am presently working on our new masters level course, SM880.

Research groups

NameTypeParent Unit
Atomic, Molecular and Optical Research GroupGroupFaculty of Science

Publications

Analytic expressions for Hubbard models with arbitrary structures in programmable optical lattices (2021-11-22)
Hague, J. P.; Petit, L. and MacCormick, C.
Physical Review A, 104, Article 53321(5)

Cold-atom quantum simulator to explore pairing, condensation, and pseudogaps in extended Hubbard-Holstein models (2020-09)
Hague, J.P.; MacCormick, C. and Kornilovitch, P.
Physical Review A, 102(3)

Implementation strategies for multiband quantum simulators of real materials (2017-03-31)
Hague, J. P. and MacCormick, C.
Physical Review A, 95, Article 33636(3)

Quantum-enhanced protocols with mixed states using cold atoms in dipole traps (2017)
Krzyzanowska, K; Copley-May, M; Romain, R; MacCormick, C and Bergamini, S
Journal of Physics: Conference Series, 793, Article 12015(1)

Supraclassical measurement using single-atom control of an atomic ensemble (2016-02-03)
MacCormick, Calum; Bergamini, Silvia; Mansell, Chris; Cable, Hugo and Modi, Kavan
Physical Review A, 93, Article 23805(9)

Coherent control of mesoscopic atomic ensembles for quantum information (2014-05-28)
Beterov, I. I.; Saffman, M.; Zhukov, V. P.; Tretyakov, D. B.; Entin, V. M.; Yakshina, E. A.; Ryabtsev, I. I.; Mansell, C. W.; MacCormick, C.; Bergamini, S. and Fedoruk, M. P.
Laser Physics, 24, Article 74013(7)

Cold Rydberg atoms for quantum simulation of exotic condensed matter interactions (2014-04)
Hague, J. P.; Downes, S.; MacCormick, C. and Kornilovitch, P. E.
Journal of Superconductivity and Novel Magnetism, 27(4) (pp. 937-940)

Quantum gates in mesoscopic atomic ensembles based on adiabatic passage and Rydberg blockade (2013)
Beterov, I. I.; Saffman, M.; Yakshina, E. A.; Zhukov, V. P.; Tretyakov, D. B.; Entin, V. M.; Ryabtsev, I. I.; Mansell, C. W.; MacCormick, C.; Bergamini, S. and Fedoruk, M. P.
Physical Review A, 88, Article 010303(R)(1)

Bilayers of Rydberg atoms as a quantum simulator for unconventional superconductors (2012-11-30)
Hague, J. P. and MacCormick, C.
Physical Review Letters, 109, Article 223001(22)

Quantum simulation of electron–phonon interactions in strongly deformable materials (2012)
Hague, J. P. and MacCormick, C.
New Journal of Physics, 14(3) (p 33019)

Measurement of the electric dipole moments for transitions to rubidium Rydberg states via Autler–Townes splitting (2011-09)
Piotrowicz, M. J.; MacCormick, C.; Kowalczyk, A.; Bergamini, S.; Beterov, I. I. and Yakshina, E. A.
New Journal of Physics, 13, Article 93012(9)

Deterministic single-atom excitation via adiabatic passage and Rydberg blockade (2011-08)
Beterov, I. I.; Tretyakov, D. B.; Entin, V. M.; Yakshina, E. A.; Ryabtsev, I. I.; MacCormick, C. and Bergamini, S.
Physical Review A, 84, Article 23413(2)

Responsivity mapping techniques for the non-positional CCD: the swept charge device CCD236 (2013-09-26)
Smith, P.; Murray, N.; MacCormick, C.; Gow, J.; Weatherill, D.; Allanwood, E.; Pool, P. and Holland, A.
In : UV, X-Ray, and Gamma-Ray Space Instrumentation for Astronomy XVIII (25-26 Aug 2013, San Diego)

Multi-level parallel clocking of CCDs for: improving charge transfer efficiency, clearing persistence, clocked anti-blooming, and generating low-noise backgrounds for pumping (2013-09-26)
Murray, Neil J.; Burt, David J.; Holland, Andrew D.; Stefanov, Konstantin D.; Gow, Jason P. D.; MacCormick, Calum; Dryer, Ben J. and Allanwood, Edgar A. H.
In : UV/Optical/IR Space Telescopes and Instruments: Innovative Technologies and Concepts VI (25-26 Aug 2013, San Diego)