girls‘ day
April 2023
We are participating in girls‘ day (https://www.girls-day.de/) with a project on „creativity and AI“, investigating in how far our own creativity is reflected in a story that we write with the aid of generative AI models for text and images (Chat GPT, Stable Diffusion).
Thanks to everyone, both the participants and the helpers Frederik and Niclas, for a very interesting and fun day!
New project on quantum computing and quantum machine learning
January 2023
In cooperation with DLR (Institut für Satellitengeodäsie und Inertialsensorik), we will approach quantum machine learning from two directions in the near future, both focussing on gate-based quantum-computing and open-quantum-systems approaches. Great news that our application in the DLR Quantum Fellowship Program was a success, and we are looking forward to working on this together with Prof. Meike List’s team at DLR in Bremen!
Visiting the quantum technology group in Oldenburg
February 2023
Our Bremen-Oldenburg-Berlin priority program project is gaining new momentum – in a new article, we shed new light on the nature of trapped interlayer excitons in the moiré potential of twisted TMD heterobilayers.
Check it out at https://arxiv.org/abs/2302.14489
Research on quantum machine learning and quantum photonics – press release
September 2022
We put out a press release on our new research direction in quantum machine learning. The work is supported in two new projects, one on photonic quantum reservoir computing, and one on the realization of a scalable platform for single-photon emitters based on 2d materials. You may find the story here.
Funding to advance quantum reservoir computing
November 2021
Our project photonicQRC has been selected for funding by the ANR and the DFG. It is a French-German cooperative project with CNRS/femto-ST, Lab. Kastler-Brossel/CNRS, and TU Berlin to develop a photonic quantum reservoir processor to perfom quantum machine learning tasks. Our central goal is to demonstrate and to fully employ the advantages offered by the quantum mechanical hardware over classical systems.
van der Waals materials – news regarding priority programs
July 2021
Our involvment in the DFG priority program 2244 is the topic of a university press release.
A more detailed introduction to the topic of 2d materials physics is given in Ronja Gronemeyer’s 3-part series to the university science blog, to which we have contributed a little bit. Please take a read:
- link to part I
- link to part II (in German)
- link to part III (in German)
Postdoc funding for Frederik, congratulations again!
September 2020
Frederik’s project application „Generation and detection of genuine multipartite entanglement in the quantum-optical emission properties of solid-state cavity QED systems“ has been accepted for funding by the Central Research Development Fund of the University of Bremen, securing a three year postdoc position in our group. This is fabulous news and a big achievement straight after finishing the PhD.
Congratulations Frederik!
June 2020
Frederik is the first in our group to obtain his PhD. Thanks for all the contributions and the excellent work!
Find the thesis here.
Fred will stay as a Postdoc and keep working on quantum information theory, entanglement generation, van der Waals materials, and nanolasers.
Success in the 2DMP priority program of the DFG
March 2020
The DFG is initiating a priority program about the physics of van der Waals materials. Our group will be part of a consortium in the priority program, bringing together microscopic modeling, polariton, and cavity-QED physics with partners at TU Berlin (Stephan Reitzenstein) and U Oldenburg (Christian Schneider). More details about the project can be found here: https://2dmp.tu-dresden.de/projects/gies-schneider-reitzenstein/.
Habilitationskolloquium „Digitale Klangsynthese“
Am 19.12.2019 findet mein Habilitationskolloquium statt. Bei wem vielleicht die Lust geweckt wird, in den Weihnachtsferien selbst Klänge zu erzeugen, dem mögen die folgenden Verweise den Einstieg erleichtern.
1.) ipad/iOS: Audiokit Synth One ist eine freeware open source App, die auf subtraktiver Synthese beruht. Einfacher als das geht es nicht, denn man kann direkt auf dem ipad die Klaviatur benutzen.
2.) ipad/iOS: Factory von SugarBytes ist ein vielseitiger Software-Synthesizer, der auch Wavetable-Synthese beherrscht. Wer das ausprobieren möchte, kann mit der kostenlosen Variante viel experimentieren.
Folgende Möglichkeiten funktionieren als plugins, d.h. sie müssen von innerhalb einer Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) aufgerufen werden. Komplett frei verfügbar ist LMMS für jede Plattform (Win/Linux/Mac) und müsste zuerst installiert werden. Unter OSX kann man natürlich auch Garageband nutzen. Danach kann man plugins innerhalb der DAW Software öffnen und auch mit der Computertastatur als Keyboard-Ersatz spielen.
3.) UHE hat mit amazona.de den Tyrell-N6 subtraktiven Synthesizer als freeware bereitgestellt.
4.) Mit Dexed steht ein freeware und open-source FM-Synthesizer zur Verfügung, der nicht weniger kann, als der DX7. Wer sich mit FM-Synthese beschäftigen möchte, hat hier alle Möglichkeiten. Dexed gibt es auch für Android und iOS. Die Android Version scheint kostenlos zu sein, für iOS kostet es einen kleinen Betrag.
FLStudio und Bitwig sind andere DAWs, die man als trial-Version voll nutzen kann, jedoch kann man keine Projekte speichern. Innerhalb dieser DAWs finden sich auch Software-Synthesizer, mit denen man einiges ausprobieren kann. Generell ist der Einstieg in eine DAW-Software nicht ganz einfach, weil die Möglichkeiten sehr vielfältig sind. Von daher ist insbesondere Synth One auf dem ipad zu empfehlen, wenn man davor zurückscheut.
Falls man sich ein Midi-Controllerkeyboard kaufen möchte, ist oft Software im Bundle mit dabei. Das ist eine gute Gelegenheit, eine Lite-Version der DAW Software Ableton Live zu bekommen.
upcoming research stay at the University of Otago
april 2019
beginning april 2019 I will spend three months as a visiting scientist at the Dodd-Walls Centre for Photonic and Quantum Technologies at the University of Otago, New Zealand. the scientific focus of this endeavor concerns the stabilization of quantum information that is stored in quantum systems of few and many particles that interact with an environment. funding for my stay is kindly provided by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD).
atomically thin semiconductors to make the world’s smallest lasers
dec 2018
transition-metal dichalcogenides are semiconducting materials that can be prepared in the shape of an atomically thin flake. these flakes can be brought into the confined electromagnetic field of microcavities to realize, amongst other things, very small lasers. while few of these nanolaser devices have been experimentally investigated, not much is yet known about the mechanism behind lasing and the coherence properties.
in two recent publications, we have addressed the material and quantum-optical properties of TMD-based nanolasers. in Lohof et al., Nano Lett. (2018) [55], the material gain has been calculated on a material-realistic footing and used in a rate-equation theory to predict cavity requirements and input-output characteristics for the common TMD materials. going further, in Lohof et al., Phys. Rev. Applied (2018) [54] we have used a simplified quantum-optical laser model to predict an unusual behavior of the coherence properties of such devices.
Masterarbeitsthema auf dem Gebiet der Quanteninformationstechnik zu vergeben
dez 2018
Informationen entnehmen Sie bitte der Ausschreibung.
Dr. Paul Gartner will be our guest for two months
april 2018
we are very much looking forward to Dr. Paul Gartner again coming to Bremen to work with us for two months from may-july. he will be a guest at our institute and of the graduate school QM3.
how long does it take for stimulated emission to become coherent?
april 2018
coherent emission of a laser is the result of stimulated emission, causing the excited gain medium to send out photons in phase. this is a fact that holds in many cases of conventional lasers. the truth is, however, that stimulated emission and coherence are two different things: the first results from an inversion of the gain medium and the presence of photons in the cavity. coherence, on the other hand, is the result of correlations that make the successive emission of two photons more than just the probabilites of their individual emission.
in collaboration with researchers at NIST we have identified operational regimes of nanolasers, in which stimulated emission and the formation of coherence do behave as two different things. in a photonic-crystal nanolaser that operates with short pulses, coherence forms only after the peak of the emission has ended, so that a large fraction of the stimulated emission is actually thermal. our results are published in Optica and shed new light on lasing in the presence of strong cavity-QED effects.
lasing from a GaN nanobeam
december 2017 / february 2018
our work on lasing from a two-dimensional GaN quantum well in a one-dimensional photonic crystal nanobeam cavity has been accepted for publication in nature communications right before christmas!
the publication is now online and can be downloaded here (open access).
Universität Bremen has released an official statement on the university homepage.
unveiling the physics of microcavity lasers
september 2017
in a news and view article in light: science & applications, Wiliam Hayenga and Mercedeh Khajavikhan give their point of view on the importance of second-order coherence properties for future design and understanding of high-beta nanolasers. their comment is published in light of our article in nature LSA by Sören Kreinberg and co-workers. thank you!
strong coupling at the laser threshold
august 2017
the cavity-QED regime of strong light-matter coupling is typically considered in the context of a weakly excited system. in a nanolaser that only operates with a handful of emitters, it is the natural regime because light-matter coupling needs to be strong to achieve sufficient gain to cross the threshold. at the same time, a laser is not a weakly excited system, but operates at stronger excitation. if you are interested to find out how the signatures and the presence of strong coupling become redefined in this „uncommon“ regime, please check out our article that has finally been published here.
textbook contribution on quantum dots for applications in the quantum-information technologies
july 2017
our theory contribution to the new springer text book on the role and potential of semiconductor quantum dots for applications in the quantum information technologies is available as a free preview on the springer page.
Dr. Paul Gartner is staying as guest researcher at our institute
july 2017
Paul Gartner has worked at the Institute for Theoretical Physics in Bremen for 15 years before moving back to his home town Bucharest. he is an expert on non-equilibrium greens functions, carrier kinetics, transport, quantum optics and the laser transition. we are pleased to welcome him in Bremen for two months to work on scaling behavior at the laser threshold and other problems with our group. we are grateful to the DFG to provide funding.
universality in a new class of nanolasers
february 2017
in a detailed study on a variety of quantum-dot micropillar emitters, we have identified a universal dependence of the emission- and coherence properties on the intracavity photon number. superradiant coupling between emitters is identified as source of coherence that does not rely on the presence of photons in the cavity, thereby increasing the „coherence per photon“ of the device.
our combined theoretical and experimental work has been accepted in light: science & applications published by nature. a preview of the article can be found here.
graduate school quantum-mechanical materials modeling QM3 to begin in january 2017
bremen will be the main hub for the recently granted graduiertenschule involving the univeristies in bremen, north bremen (Jacobs), oldenburg, and the max planck institute in hamburg. the aim of the program is research and education in the field of a new class of materials whose macroscopic properties are defined by design and manipulation on a microscopic scale. a prominent example are atomically thin layers of transition-metal dichalcogenides, such as MoS2 or WSe2, which are direct semiconductors with exceptionally large coulomb effects. in the graduate school, i am one out of 12 subproject leaders. more information on the web page http://www.rtg-qm3.de/
NEWS: signatures of radiative coupling in a quantum-dot nanolaser published in nature communications
our theoretical work on superradiance (link to phys. rev. applied) in quantum-dot nanolasers is an extension to conventional laser models. together with researches from the universities magdeburg, dortmund, and würzburg, a combined theoretical and experimental work has recently been published in nature communications. you can find the press release here.
NEWS: DFG funding
together with researchers from the technical universities in berlin and würzburg a dfg research grant has been approved to study the the few-emitter limits of lasing. more information on the project is found here.
work on two-dimensional semiconductors
our recent interest in the optical properties of two-dimensional materials has led to a couple of successful collaborations and publications. this effort will be increased in the framework of the graduate school QM3 starting 2017.
review article on signatures of lasing in nanolasers
miniaturisation towards the ultimate limit of cavity-QED can fundamentally change the properties of a laser. in this regime, few solid state emitters or, in the extreme case even a single one, interact with the individual particles of light. how to identify and characterise the emission of such systems is the topic of our work in light: science&publications publised by nature.
FOPS conference gallery
photographs of the FOPS conference, taken place at lake junaluska in august this year, are available as a web gallery.
correlation dynamics of individual photons
our publication on correlations between single photon-emission events has appeared in nature! for a brief summary see the press releases here and here.