Profile
David DeMille
Professor
Department of Physics, James Franck Institute, and the College
David DeMille’s research uses precise quantum control over diatomic molecules to address a broad range of scientific questions. One primary theme is the use of molecules as amplifying quantum sensors of phenomena arising from nuclear and particle physics. His group’s experiments of this type—though small enough to fit in a single room—are sensitive enough to detect the existence of new particles up to 30 times more massive than the Higgs boson that could account for the matter-antimatter asymmetry of the universe.
In addition to his faculty role, DeMille is a senior physicist at Argonne National Laboratory. He has received awards and fellowships from the American Physical Society, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology, among others, and his work has been published in numerous peer-reviewed physics journals.
DeMille received his AB in physics from the University of Chicago, and his MS and PhD in physics from the University of California, Berkeley. He was a postdoctoral researcher at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Most recently, he was a professor of physics at Yale University, and previously at Amherst College.
Photo credit: Mellissa DeMille