Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics

Starting on 7 October, the excitement around the Nobel Prizes will once again capture the world’s attention. The announcements will begin in Stockholm on Monday, with the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine,  revealed around midday.

A new combination of single infrared light measurement and machine learning can be used to detect metabolic disorders and high blood pressure

Ferenc Krausz was presented with the Nobel Prize in Physics in Stockholm on December 10

Electrons hold the world together. When chemical reactions yield new substances, they play a leading role. And in electronics, too, they are the protagonists. Together with his colleagues, Ferenc Krausz, Director of the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics in Garching, photographs the rapid movements of electrons with attosecond flashes, creating the basis for new technological developments.

The scientist from the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics is honoured for his contributions to attosecond physics

The smaller the research object, the more complex the apparatus.

With the expectation that they will be able to solve problems that stump even today’s best computers, both governments and private financiers are investing heavily in the development of quantum computers. The team led by Ignacio Cirac, a Director at the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics in Garching, is researching what computers will actually be able to do in the years to come. As the research reveals, not all hopes are likely to be fulfilled so soon.

Advances in technology are likely to make cyber-attacks ever more damaging. But at least the transmission of data could become more secure - through quantum communication. This has spurred researchers from around the world to work on its physical principles and technical components. Gerhard Rempe's team at the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics in Garching have set their vision even higher: to network quantum computers.

Modern quantum physics holds quite a few promises in store: quantum computers and simulators will be able to trawl through huge quantities of data at lightning speed, accelerate the development of new drugs or facilitate the search for materials for, say, energy engineering. The research being carried out by Ignacio Cirac, Director at the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics in Garching, is helping to fulfill these promises.

Gravitational waves are some of the most spectacular predictions of the 1915 general theory of relativity. However, it wasn’t until half a century later that physicist Joseph Weber attempted to track them down. In the early 1970s, Max Planck scientists also began working in this research field, and developed second-generation detectors. The groundwork laid by these pioneers meant the waves in space-time ceased to be just figments of the imagination: in September 2015 they were finally detected.

Electrons hold the world together. When chemical reactions yield new substances, they play a leading role. And in electronics, too, they are the protagonists. Together with his colleagues, Ferenc Krausz, Director of the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics in Garching, photographs the rapid movements of electrons with attosecond flashes, creating the basis for new technological developments.

Physicists can solve many puzzles by taking more accurate and careful measurements. Randolf Pohl and his colleagues at the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics in Garching, however, actually created a new problem with their precise measurements of the proton radius, because the value they measured differs significantly from the value previously considered to be valid. The difference could point to gaps in physicists’ picture of matter.

By measuring the frequencies of light waves, researchers can identify far more "colours" than the human eye can perceive. This capability allows for precise distinction between atoms and molecules based on their unique spectral fingerprints. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics have now successfully recorded spectra with thousands of "colours" in the challenging ultraviolet spectral range. The key to this achievement is a novel spectrometer concept that combines two frequency combs with a photon counter.

The realisation of global quantum networks is a key research topic for future quantum technologies. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics have developed a new and promising hardware platform for this purpose: Up to one hundred individual erbium atoms are controlled in an optical resonator with laser light. This makes it possible to use them as stationary quantum bits and to network them by exchanging photons - a first important step on the way to a quantum internet that connects quantum computers and sensors worldwide.

Quantum computers raise hope for the discovery of new materials or the simulation of complex natural processes. First prototypes exist, but the technology is still in its infancy. Quantum algorithms that can calculate dynamic many-body systems more efficiently than classical algorithms have been known for some time – none, however, for static systems. Now our group has developed two algorithms that can do exactly that better than any supercomputer. In the application of their two algorithms, classical computers and quantum computers work hand in hand.

More than 30 years after the discovery of high-temperature superconductors, their basic mechanisms are still not fully understood. However, more knowledge would be important to find materials with superconductivity at room temperature that can transport electricity without loss. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics are trying to unravel this mystery using a special quantum simulator. Recently, they made a breakthrough: the very first high-resolution photos of single magnetic polarons. They are suspected to be significantly involved in the formation of superconductivity.

Light-matter interactions determine fundamental processes in our everyday lives: from the scattering of light by molecules and particles in the atmosphere, which colour the sky, to vital biological processes such as photosynthesis. They are all based on ultrafast charge movements in the femtosecond or attosecond range, i.e. millionths or billionths of a billionth of a second. In order to study these processes, we create light pulses that are just as short. Now we have used them to trigger reactions on nanoparticles and to study them.