The Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics has been in operation since 1979, on the Santa Barbara campus of the University of California. It is funded by the National Science Foundation and the University of California. The general purpose of the Institute is to contribute to the progress of theoretical physics, especially in areas overlapping the traditional subfields, in ways which are not easily realized in existing institutions.

Quantum information is the physics of knowledge. Contrary to what one might think, quantum mechanics tells us how and when something is measured can change the outcome of an experiment. Even stranger, the physical reality of an experiment is affected by the knowledge of the experimenter--or more precisely, by what can in principle be known. Here at the University of Illinois, we are learning how to gain control over these exquisitely sensitive quantum systems. Photons, the tiny bundles that light travels in, act as our window into the quantum world. By using lasers as a source for our photons, we take advantage of one of their special properties: all of the photons emitted from a particular laser are quantum-mechanically identical. This allows the systematic study of how quantum systems react to manipulation, interaction with themselves, and measurement. In addition to investigation these individual photons, we can also create pairs of entangled photons. Each photon in an entangled pair contains information which is totally random, yet perfectly correlated with that of its partner. This seemingly paradoxical behavior is the essence of how quantum mechanics differs from classical mechanics. Our entangled photon source allows us to study the rudiments of quantum computing, is crucial to experiments in quantum cryptography, and provides extremely convincing evidence that the universe does not obey classical laws.

The F.R. Newman Laboratory for Elementary-Particle Physics (LEPP) is a research laboratory of the Cornell University Department of Physics engaged primarily in experimental and theoretical Elementary Particle Physics (EPP) and Accelerator Physics.

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) conducts unclassified research across a wide range of scientific disciplines with key efforts in fundamental studies of the universe; quantitative biology; nanoscience; new energy systems and environmental solutions; and the use of integrated computing as a tool for discovery. It is organized into 17 scientific divisions and hosts four DOE national user facilities. The Lab was founded in 1931 by Ernest Orlando Lawrence, winner of the 1939 Nobel Prize in physics for his invention of the cyclotron, a circular particle accelerator that opened the door to high-energy physics. It was Lawrences belief that scientific research is best done through teams of individuals with different fields of expertise, working together. His teamwork concept is a Berkeley Lab legacy that has yielded rich dividends in basic knowledge and applied technology, and a profusion of awards, including nine Nobel Prizes -- five in physics and four in chemistry.

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) is a premier research and development institution for science and technology applied to national security. We are responsible for ensuring that the nations nuclear weapons remain safe, secure, and reliable. LLNL also applies its expertise to prevent the spread and use of weapons of mass destruction and strengthen homeland security. Our national security mission requires special multidisciplinary capabilities that are also used to pursue programs in advanced defense technologies, energy, environment, biosciences, and basic science to meet important national needs. These activities enhance the competencies needed for our defining national security mission. The Laboratory serves as a resource to the U.S. government and is a partner with industry and academia. Safe, secure, and efficient operations and scientific and technical excellence in our programs are necessary to sustain public trust in the Laboratory.

We work on ultra-slow light, light storage, cold atomic beams, Bose-Einstein condensation, and superfluidity. We also have experiments on cold atom and carbon nanotube interactions and on surface-enhanced Raman scattering of biomolecules.

The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) is a facility dedicated to the detection of cosmic gravitational waves and the harnessing of these waves for scientific research. It consists of two widely separated installations within the United States one in Hanford Washington and the other in Livingston, Louisiana operated in unison as a single observatory. LIGO is being built by the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Funded by the National Science Foundation, LIGO will function as a national resource for both physics and astrophysics. When it reaches maturity, this observatory will be open for use by the national community and will become part of a planned worldwide network of gravitational-wave observatories. The LIGO Scientific Collaboration (LSC) is the forum organizing technical and scientific research in LIGO. Its mission is to insure equal opportunity for individual participants and institutions within the scientific community.

The LIGO Scientific Collaboration (LSC) is a forum for organizing technical and scientific research in LIGO. Its mission is to insure equal scientific opportunity for individual participants and institutions by organizing research, publications, and all other scientific activities. It includes scientists from the LIGO Laboratory as well as collaborating institutions. It is a separate organization from the LIGO Laboratory, with its own leadership and governance, but reports to the Laboratory Directorate for final approval of its research program, technical projects, observational physics publications, and talks announcing new observations and physics results.

For nearly a decade, the Laboratory, in partnership with its sister Defense Programs laboratories and the Department of Energy (DOE)/National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), has maintained the enduring nuclear stockpile without nuclear testing. National science-based Stockpile Stewardship is the program through which the safety, reliability, and performance of the United States nuclear stockpile is assured. Through Stockpile Stewardship and other programs, LANL develops and applies the best science and technology to meet national security requirements by creating and adapting capabilities to address critical mission needs.

We are a quantum optics and biophysics group in the Physics and Control and Dynamical systems departments at Caltech. Our group adopts a combined theoretical and experimental approach to the characterization, control, and fabrication of atomic, molecular, and quantum-optical systems. In particular, we build upon methods from estimation, control and dynamical systems theory to better understand topics ranging from quantum measurement to cell-scale biochemical networks. Our experiments utilize techniques from cold atom physics, precision metrology, cavity QED, and single-molecule spectroscopy to explore topics in quantum and classical stochastics.

The Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert Einstein Institute) is one of more than 80 research institutes of the Max Planck Society. The Institute was established to pursue research in gravitational physics, especially general relativity and quantum gravity. General relativity is the theory of gravity devised by Albert Einstein (picture: 1929 by Lotte Jacobi); its many successful predictions concerning black holes, gravitational waves, gravitational lensing, and the Big Bang have made it a standard tool of astronomers in their attempts to describe the observed universe. Much work in theoretical physics today is directed at generalizing this theory to include the quantum effects that are known to be necessary to describe elementary particles, and which are believed to be necessary as well to describe the inside of a black hole and the details of the Big Bang. The aim is to develop a quantum theory of gravity that goes beyond general relativity and explains the relationship between gravity and the other forces of physics, such as electromagnetism and the nuclear force.

The MDSP lab conducts research in the general areas of multidimensional and multiresolution signal and image processing and estimation and geometric-based estimation. The applications that motivate this research include, but are not limited to, problems arising in automatic target detection and recognition, geophysical inverse problems (such as finding oil and analyzing the atmosphere), and medical estimation problems (such as tomography and MRI). Our general goal is to develop efficient methods for the extraction of information from diverse data sources in the presence of uncertainty. The approach we take is based on the development of statistical models for both observations and prior knowledge and the subsequent use of these models for optimal or near-optimal processing. The laboratory, directed by Professor W. Clem Karl, is part of the Information Systems and Sciences Group at Boston University, which is affiliated with the Electrical and Computer Engineering and Biomedical Engineering Departments at Boston University.

NETL's primary mission is to ensure that U.S. fossil energy resources can meet increasing demand for affordable energy without compromising the quality of life for future generations of Americans. Within this context, NETL historically focused on the development of advanced technologies related to coal and natural gas. With the recent addition of the National Petroleum Technology Office to the laboratory, responsibilities now cover the breadth of fossil energy resourcescoal, natural gas, and oil. In addition to NETL's work in fossil energy, the laboratory has in recent years broadened its mission to include support to the development and deployment of environmental technologies that lower the cost and reduce the risk of cleaning up the Department of Energy's weapons complex.

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) is a leader in the U.S. Department of Energy's effort to secure an energy future for the nation that is environmentally and economically sustainable. NREL develops renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies and practices, advances related science and engineering, and transfers knowledge and innovations to address the nation's energy and environmental goals. Established in 1974, NREL began operating in 1977 as the Solar Energy Research Institute. It was designated a national laboratory of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) in September 1991 and its name changed to NREL.

Eleven dimensions, parallel universes, and a world made out of strings. It's not science fiction, it's string theory. One of the most ambitious and exciting theories ever proposedone that may be the long-sought "theory of everything," which eluded even Einsteingets a masterful, lavishly computer-animated explanation from bestselling author-physicist Brian Greene, when NOVA presents the nuts, bolts, and sometimes outright nuttiness of string theory. Also known as superstring theory, the startling idea proposes that the fundamental ingredients of nature are inconceivably tiny strings of energy, whose different modes of vibration underlie everything that happens in the universe. The theory successfully unites the laws of the largegeneral relativityand the laws of the smallquantum mechanicsbreaking a conceptual logjam that has frustrated the world's smartest scientists for nearly a century.