A team led by Francesca Ferlaino has set a new milestone in atomic physics by trapping individual erbium atoms in optical tweezers for the first time. Taking advantage of erbium’s complex electronic structure, which opens up new degrees of freedom and possibilities, this advancement opens the door to a range of innovative experiments in quantum science.
Three researchers from the Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information (IQOQI) are among this year's “Highly Cited Researchers”. The Innsbruck quantum physicists Rainer Blatt, Hannes Pichler and Peter Zoller are thus among the most cited scientists worldwide.
Supersolids are a new form of quantum matter that has only recently been demonstrated. The state of matter can be produced artificially in ultracold, dipolar quantum gases. A team led by Innsbruck physicist Francesca Ferlaino has now demonstrated a missing hallmark of superfluidity, namely the existence of quantized vortices as system’s response to rotation. They have observed tiny quantum vortices in the supersolid, which also behave differently than previously assumed.
Read more …Quantum vortices confirm superfluidity in supersolid
On Wednesday evening, the daily newspaper “Die Presse” honored personalities who have made outstanding achievements in their field over the past year at the Austria 24 Gala in Vienna. In the “Research” category, the Innsbruck quantum physicist Francesca Ferlaino was named “Austrian of the Year”.
Research achievements of women in the past and present are made visible in an exhibition of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW), which opened yesterday at the Institute of Quantum Optics and Quantum Information (IQOQI) in Innsbruck. It will be on display until the end of October.