The MCQST Colloquium Series features interdisciplinary talks given by visiting international speakers. The monthly colloquium covers topics spanning all MCQST research units and will be broadcast live via Zoom for audiences worldwide. The main goal of the series is to create the framework for idea exchange, to strengthen links with QST leading groups worldwide, as well as to act as an integral part of the local educational environment.

MCQST Colloquium: Eugene Polzik

We are excited to invite you to the colloquium talk by Eugene Polzik (Niels Bohr Institute/University of Copenhagen). You can join us in-person at the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics at the above address, or online via the Zoom link below:

https://lmu-munich.zoom.us/j/99897798115
Meeting ID: 998 9779 8115
Passcode: mcqst2023

Talk Information

Macroscopic objects in the quantum regime

The size and mass of physical systems in which entangled states, number states and other non-classical states can be generated is growing. In the talk I will first review our experiments with macroscopic mechanical and atomic systems where measurements with sensitivity exceeding the standard quantum limits have been performed [1,2]. These experiments pave the road towards simultaneous detection of arbitrarily small perturbations in both position and momentum, usually referred to as trajectories without quantum uncertainties. Progress towards application of those ideas to gravitational wave detectors [3] will be reported. Another intriguing goal is generation of single excitations and superposition states of large objects. An experiment demonstrating evidence of generation of a single quantum excitation of motion of a millimeter size mechanical oscillator [4] will be discussed. Finally, our atomic platform for multi-particle quantum simulations will be introduced.

1. Nature, 547, 191 (2017).
2. Nature Physics (2020) 10.1038/s41567-020-1031-5.
3. Phys. Rev. Lett. 121, 031101 (2018); Physical Review X Quantum (2022) 3 (2), 020362; Nature Comm., (2022) 13, 4815.
4. Optica, 7(6), 718 (2020).

About the speaker

Eugene S. Polzik, Professor of Physics, Niels Bohr Institute at Copenhagen University, is an experimental quantum physicist who has made ground breaking contributions within quantum optics with emphasis on quantum state engineering and control of light and matter.
He has had more than 170 papers published in refereed journals and given over 150 plenary or invited talks. His research has helped to lead the development of quantum optics throughout Europe, which includes his leadership of the QUROPE project from 2006-2009. In Denmark, he established the first quantum-optics lab, and later the QUANTOP center at the University of Copenhagen.
Polzik has received many awards for his work, including the Danish Physical Society Prize, the Scientific American Research Leadership Award, the Gordon Moore Distinguished Scholar Award, two European Research Council Advanced Grant Awards, and the Danish Academic Association Research Prize in Natural Sciences. He is a Fellow of OSA, the American Physical Society, and the Institute of Physics, UK. He is a member of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters, and has been selected as a Danish Research Result of the Year. For his research achievements he has been named Ridder af Dannebrog (Knight of the Danish Kingdom).