Newsroom

Thomas Udem is a professor at LMU Munich and one of the longest-serving members of the laser spectroscopy research group led by Nobel prize winner Theodor Hänsch. He has supervised many doctoral students and was even dissertation advisor for some of them. His motto: just let them get on with it. more

After five and a half years of research, Matthias Körber successfully completed his PhD in December 2020. more

Even though quantum communication is tap-proof, it is so far not particularly efficient. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics want to change this. They have developed a detection method that can be used to track quantum transmissions - without destroying the information. more

An expert community for quantum technologies from science and industry has developed new guidelines for joint action of industry, politics and science. Yesterday, the programme was adopted at a virtual event organised by the BMBF, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research in Germany. more

A new study carried out by a team of laser physicists, molecular biologists and physicians based at LMU Munich and the Max Planck Institute for Quantum Optics has confirmed the temporal stability of the molecular composition of blood in a population of healthy individuals. The data provide a basis for a new method of monitoring the constituents of blood and detecting alterations that reveal changes in a person’s state of health. more

Dr Eileen Welz is one of three employees working at the EU Office of the Max Planck Institutes in the regional cluster Bavaria. Together with her two colleagues, Eileen Welz supports researchers with their applications for EU research funds which are currently facing political turmoil. more

Today’s quantum computers contain up to several dozen memory and processing units, the so-called qubits. Researchers from MPQ have successfully interconnected two such qubits located in different labs to a distributed quantum computer. Their system is the worldwide first prototype of a distributed quantum computer. more

The size of the alpha particle, the nucleus of the helium atom, has been measured more accurately than ever before. Results now indicate a size 1.67824(83) femtometers, which is 4.8 times more precise than previous measurements. The researchers used laser spectroscopy of exotic helium ions, where the electron is replaced by a 200 times heavier muon. more

As part of the current QIP Conference, Dominik Niemitz, a doctoral student in the Quantum Dynamics department of Gerhard Rempe, is showing a laboratory from his research group. Therein, the researchers investigate individual atoms in crossed optical fibre cavities. The video shows the set-up of the experiment and the laboratory environment in a 360° view, which allows the viewer to freely turn and look around. more

After six years at the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics (MPQ), Alexey Grinin successfully defended his PhD thesis on 18 August 2020; his doctoral thesis might help find the solution of one of the most prominent problems in physics. more

Understanding systems of many interacting quantum particles remains one of the grand challenges in physics. Simulating such systems on supercomputers is impossible for more than a few particles, but promising approaches based on quantum simulators are on the horizon. more

The DPG awards Nathalie Picqué with the 2021 Gentner-Kastler Prize for outstanding contributions to high-resolution broad-field molecular spectroscopy with frequency combs. more