Research Interests
Quantum sensing with levitated mechanical arrays
Levitated mechanical systems comprising of nanoparticles have emerged as a versatile platform for sensing, as mechanical degrees of freedom couple to a wide range of external forces. Our work aims to leverage quantum and many-body resources in interacting levitated mechanical arrays to develop quantum sensing capabilities and build practical devices. A high level of control over the nanoparticle arrays will be achieved through the use of programmable optical tweezes.
This project will be carried out in collaboration with the theory groups of Carlos Gonzalez-Ballestero at Vienna and Oriol Romero-Isart at Innsbruck, colleagues in Physics and EEE at Manchester, and industrial partners across Europe.
Engineered materials for macroscopic quantum science
The generation and control of quantum states of motion (eg, non-Gaussian states such as Fock states) in mechanical systems is an outstanding goal in our field, with implications ranging from testing collapse models in quantum physics to enhancing sensing performance. The challenge in achieving this goal is to introduce nonlinearities in continuous-variable degrees of freedom such as mechanical motion.
We will use world-leading materials engineering facilities at the Henry Royce Institute and the University of Manchester to build interfaces between nonlinear quantum emitters and nano- and micro-structures to engineer and exploit quantum states of motion in mechanical systems.
Cavity quantum optomechanics with levitated nanoparticles
Bringing massive objects into the quantum regime offers an exciting new window into exploring the nature of quantum physics. Levitated nano- and micro-scale systems, thanks to their relatively large mass, high degree of isolation and the ability to use lasers to control their dynamics, are ideally suited to investigate macroscopic quantum physics.
In the group of Lukas Novotny at ETH Zurich, we pioneered techniques to couple the motion of multiple levitated optomechanical systems. We continue to develop capabilities towards probing non-equilibrium dynamics in interacting particle arrays.
Source: D. Windey & J. Piotrowski, ETH Zurich
Quantum simulation with ultracold neutral atoms
The microscopic dynamics of strongly-correlated electrons in certain materials dictate the emergence of macroscopic phenomena such as high-temperature superconductivity. However, these are challenging to investigate in traditional settings. An alternate approach is to simulate the behaviour of electrons in lattices by building synthetic analogous quantum systems such as Fermionic atoms in optical lattices. The level of control in such synthetic quantum systems opens a powerful way of investigating intractable phenomena in condensed matter systems.
In the group of Immanuel Bloch at the MPQ, Munich, we developed techniques to image the dynamics of ultracold Fermions with high spatial and temporal resolution, providing unprecedented microscopic access to spin-charge separation and quantum magnetism in 1D and 2D Hubbard chains.
While not a current research activity in the group, atom trapping might make a comeback - watch this space!