Prize for South Tyrolean quantum physicists – tirol.ORF.at
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The quantum physicist Hannes Pichler has received a Starting Grant from the European Research Council (ERC) for his theoretical research on quantum many-body physics and quantum information processing. He is the second winner to bring this high level of funding to Innsbruck.
The funding, endowed with around 1.5 million euros, is the highest award for successful young scientists in Europe. The Tyrolean researcher Timon Adolph from the Medical University of Innsbruck has also received an award – more on this in Prize for Innsbruck researchers.
From South Tyrol to the world of quantum physics
The European Research Council (ERC) supports frontier research by outstanding scientists in Europe. With the ERC Starting Grants, successful young researchers are provided with highly endowed project budgets. The theorist Hannes Pichler, who comes from South Tyrol, was appointed two years ago from the USA to the University of Innsbruck and the Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information of the Austrian Academy of Science in Innsbruck. He has now received the prestigious grant from the European Research Council and WILL THEREFORE advance his research on quantum many-body physics and quantum information processing.
New approach in quantum physics
In recent years, a promising approach to building quantum simulators and quantum computers with neutral atoms has caused a sensation: With the help of optical tweezers, atoms are caught individually and arranged in structures as desired. These atoms can then be manipulated by laser and put into highly excited states – so-called Rydberg states. Such Rydberg atoms are several thousand times larger than normal atoms and can interact with other Rydberg atoms over great distances via their loosely bound electron.
“These atoms can be controlled very well and in large numbers and therefore open up new possibilities for realizing a quantum computer,” says Hannes Pichler. His research interests are in the theoretical description of these systems. In the ERC project, Pichler will examine in detail how the special properties of Rydberg atoms can be used for applications in quantum information processing.
Does he want to use a quantum many-body phenomenon that was recently discovered in these systems as a tool to generate highly entangled states. “Another goal is the research and development of new approaches for the implementation of quantum algorithms for optimization problems with Rydberg atoms,” adds the physicist. His research group works with experimental laboratories all over the world, who apply his concepts and suggestions in their experiments.
Career began at the University of Innsbruck
Hannes Pichler, born in Brixen in 1986, studied physics at the University of Innsbruck and did his doctorate in Peter Zoller’s group. From 2016 to 2019 he was an ITAMP Postdoctoral Fellow at Harvard University and from 2019 to 2020 at the California Institute of Technology as a Gordon and Betty Moore Postdoctoral Fellow. Pichler has been Professor of Theoretical Physics with a focus on quantum optics at the University of Innsbruck and working group leader at the Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information (IQOQI) in Innsbruck since April 2020.