[2013-07-01] Quantum physicist Rainer Blatt receives the 60,000 Euro endowed Humboldt Research Award. With this award the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation recognizes internationally renowned scientists for their outstanding research work. The award is linked to a research tour in Germany.
“I am honored by this award. And it gives me the opportunity to collaborate on interesting projects with colleagues in Germany,” says Rainer Blatt, who was also awarded the Stern-Gerlach Medal of the German Physical Society and the Carl-Zeiss Research Award. The experimental physicists is going to use this award to visit and work with scientists at the University of Bonn (Dieter Meschede), Mainz (Ferdinand Schmidt-Kaler) and Stuttgart (Harald Giessen) as well as the Max Planck Institute for Quantum Optics in Garching near Munich (Immanuel Block, Ignacio Cirac). “The main focus of our collaboration is quantum information processing and quantum simulation on different experimental platforms,”says Rainer Blatt. “In Bonn scientists work with atoms in optical traps and in Mainz with microstructured ion traps. In Stuttgart we will mainly discuss nano-photonic processes applied in quantum information processing and in Garching we will work together on theoretical concepts and quantum simulation.”
Recognition for outstanding achievements
Rainer Blatt will be awarded the Humboldt Research Award by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation recognizing his “outstanding achievements to date in research and teaching”. Blatt is an Austro-German experimental physicists and works in the fields of precision spectroscopy, quantum metrology and quantum information. As Professor at the University of Innsbruck and Scientific Director at the Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information of the Austrian Academy of Sciendes (ÖAW) he is one of the fathers of the current international success stories in physics research at the University of Innsbruck. With his research group he was the first in transferring quantum information of one atom to another one (teleportation) in a completely controlled manner. He was also first in realizing a quantum byte. In 2011 his research team pushed the record to 14 entangled atoms. In addition, he has succeeded in taking important steps towards error correction in quantum computers and building quantum simulators.
The Humboldt Research Award
The award is granted in recognition of a researcher's entire academic achievements to date whose fundamental discoveries, new theories, or insights have had a significant impact on their own discipline and who are expected to continue producing cutting-edge achievements in the future. Nominations may be submitted by established academics in Germany. The award is valued at 60,000 Euro.