Poul S. Jessen holds the position of Professor of Optical Sciences with a joint appointment in Physics at the University of Arizona.
He is a founding member of the Center for Quantum Information and Control.
Jessen received a BSc in physics and chemistry from University of Aarhus, Denmark in 1987, and a PhD from Aarhus in 1993.
While studying at Aarhus, Jessen travelled to the United States and worked with William Daniel Phillips at the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
When his original doctoral thesis adviser at Aarhus retired, Phillips took over as his thesis adviser.