Experimental AMO physicist using ultracold atoms and optical lattices for quantum simulation and sensing. Directions: (1) Efimov and few-body physics in ultracold Cs and Cs-Li mixtures; (2) quantum phase transitions and strongly correlated quantum matter in optical lattices; (3) optical tweezer arrays for single-atom and single-molecule quantum simulation. Develops novel imaging techniques for in-situ atomic density measurements.

Experimental AMO physicist focused on precision measurement for fundamental physics. Primary directions: (1) ACME experiment measuring electron electric dipole moment to unprecedented precision using ThO molecular beam — tests for new CP-violating physics beyond the Standard Model; (2) ultracold polar molecule quantum simulation and quantum information in optical tweezers. Atomic coherence techniques underpin SERF/OPM magnetometry. Joined UChicago from Yale 2022.

Ni's group creates and controls individual molecules at the lowest achievable temperatures, using optical tweezers to study state-resolved ultracold chemical reactions and quantum effects in molecular collisions. Included here as a borderline precision-measurement/quantum-sensing platform (ultracold polar molecules), analogous to the eEDM/ultracold-molecule work elsewhere in the department, though her core emphasis is chemical reaction dynamics rather than device sensing.