Nicolas Tolazzi has successfully completed his doctorate at MPQ
On October 22nd Nicolas Tolazzi has successfully defended his PhD thesis in the Quantum Dynamics division of Gerhard Rempe. He has been working at MPQ since March 2015.
During his doctorate at MPQ, Nicolas Tolazzi investigated the driving of closed cycles in a single atom. Closed cycles in general are of fundamental relevance in physics and in daily life. Be it a laser, a car engine or even our whole economy, a continuous operation of any system requires operating it in closed cycle. Nicolas implemented such a driven closed cycle in the level structure of a single Rubidium atom, where one arm of the cycle is strongly coupled to a high-finesse optical resonator and achieved therewith continuous directed photon generation via a four-wave mixing scheme. This paves the way to understanding the cycling dynamics of nonlinear optics on the quantum level.
What’s next?
Nicolas has already started working in industry as a software and hardware developer. The company in which he will continue his career is specialized on building digital simulators for eye surgeons, which are similar to the simulators for pilot training. There are two main connections between his academic studies and his professional work: a realistic replica of the eye in a virtual reality simulator requires a physical modelling of the eye, its tissues and light refraction. A competence he acquired during his physics studies. Furthermore, he strongly improved his programming skills when developing software for diverse experimental challenges at MPQ, which now provide him with the necessary skills for his new role as a developer.
All the best for his future plans!