Research

Semiconductors play an important role, be it in electronics, optoelectronics or photovoltaics. But like other solid bodies, they are quantum many-body systems. Therefore, a calculation of their material properties would overburden conventional computers. Instead, this task could be performed by a quantum system with comparable properties that is fully controllable from the outside. more

Physicists of the Laboratory for Attosecond Physics have measured the flight times of electrons in molecules after their creation with light. The small quantum particles were emitted from a specific atom within the molecules, which enabled to measure the molecular influence on their emission time. The results open new opportunities to study the forces that are holding molecules together in better detail. more

MPQ Scientists opened a new window into the quantum world. After eight years they succeeded in a challenging experiment with PSI and CERN: they created an artificial atom, the so-called pionic helium, in which the shortlived pion can survive a thousand times longer than in usually does. more

Physicists in the Laboratory for Attosecond Physics at the Max Planck Institute for Quantum Optics and at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München have developed a novel type of detector that enables the oscillation profile of light waves to be precisely determined. more

Scientists at the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics have experimentally confirmed a fifty year old prediction about the (in)separability of an electron's spin and electric charge using a specialised quantum simulator. The result is now published in "Science". more