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Christopher L. Holloway (Fed)

Electromagnetic Fields Group Leader and Rydberg Atoms/Sensors Project Leader

Dr. Holloway is a NIST Fellow and a Fellow of the IEEE. He has been at NIST since 2000, where he works on electromagnetic theory, atomic physics, quantum optics, quantum-based sensors, and calibration standards. Dr. Holloway was awarded the 2022 Department of Commerce Gold Medal for his work in Rydberg atom-based sensors and the 1999 Department of Commerce Silver Medal for his work on electromagnetic related topics. He also was awarded the 2006 NIST Bronze Medal and the 1998 NTIA Bronze Medal, both for his work in electromagnetics. He also has numerous other awards from various professional societies.  He is the Group Leader for the Electromagnetic Fields Group and the Project Leader for the Rydberg-Atom Sensor Project.

View Dr. Holloway talk Rydberg sensor (the 2025 Hans Liebe Lecture Award)

View Dr. Holloway's talk on Rydberg atom-based Sensors.

View Dr. Holloway's talk on student opportunities at NIST. 

Awards

2022 Department of Commerce Ron Brown Excellence In Innovation Award

2022 Department of Commerce Gold Medal for his work in Rydberg atom-based sensors

2006 EEEL John May-Wells Safety Award “For outstanding safety awareness and safety execution at building implosion sites”

2006 NIST Bronze Medal for improving radio communication for emergency responders

1999 Department of Commerce Silver Medal for his work on electromagnetic related topic

1998 NTIA/DOC Bronze Medal for his work on electromagnetic related topic

Publications

Primary quantum thermometry of mm-wave blackbody radiation via induced state transfer in Rydberg states of cold atoms

Author(s)
Noah Schlossberger, Andrew Rotunno, Stephen Eckel, Eric Norrgard, Dixith Manchaiah, Nikunjkumar Prajapati, Alexandra Artusio-Glimpse, Samuel Berweger, Matthew Simons, Dangka Shylla, William Watterson, Charles Patrick, Adil Meraki, Rajavardhan Talashila, Amanda Younes, David La Mantia, Christopher Holloway
Rydberg states of alkali-metal atoms are highly sensitive to electromagnetic radiation in the GHz-to-THz regime because their transitions have large electric di
View more Publications

Patents (2018-Present)

Cell design showing both cell walls and windows made of non-conducting glass. A thin layer of polysilicon deposited on the glass is used for bonding the cell closed.

Atomic Vapor Cell And Making An Atomic Vapor Cell

NIST Inventors
Christopher L. Holloway , Alexandra (Aly) Artusio-Glimpse , Vladimir Aksyuk and Matt Simons
A new method for fabricating cells at the wafer level that minimizes the amount of silicon. Instead of fabricating the frame onto which glass is bonded out of silicon, we start with a glass wafer, in which holes have been etched or abrasively machined. A thin layer of polysilicon is deposited onto
Description of Patent 11,165,505

Quantum Atomic Receiving Antenna and Quantum Sensing of Radiofrequency Radiation

NIST Inventors
Josh Gordon and Christopher L. Holloway
A quantum atomic receiving antenna includes: a probe laser; a coupling laser; an atomic vapor cell that includes: a spherically shaped or parallelepiped-shaped atomic vapor space and Rydberg antenna atoms. These undergo a radiofrequency Rydberg transition to produce quantum antenna light from probe
Block diagram of the Rydberg atom "mixer". The Rydberg atoms separate the difference frequency (IF) from two RF signals (LO and SIG). This demodulated signal is carried in the probe laser.

Rydberg Atom Mixer and Determining Phase of Modulated Carrier Radiation

NIST Inventors
Josh Gordon , Christopher L. Holloway and Matt Simons
A Rydberg atom mixer determines a phase of modulated carrier radiation and includes: a reference radiofrequency source for reference radiofrequency radiation; a modulated carrier source for modulated carrier radiation; a vapor cell to contain gas atoms and that receives reference radiofrequency
View All Patents
Created October 9, 2019, Updated March 10, 2025
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