Vortices in a supersolid

Vortices in a supersolid

Our research on the observation of vortices in a dipolar supersolid has now been published in Nature, and featured by Quanta magazine!

2025 Postdoc & PhD Openings!

2025 Postdoc & PhD Openings!

We are happy to announce that our dipolar quantum gas group has Postdoc and four PhD positions open for 2025!

Austrian of the Year 2024

Austrian of the Year 2024

Francesca was crowned as the ‘Austrian of the Year’ in the research category at the Austria 24 gala by Die Presse!

Summer BBQ

Summer BBQ

Our 2024 Summer BBQ took place on the 24th of June and celebrated the many different achievements of the group!

2024 PhD Openings!

2024 PhD Openings!

We are happy to announce that our dipolar quantum gas group has two PhD positions open for 2024/2025!

Murder Mystery Dinner

Murder Mystery Dinner

Our 2024 group dinner took place on the 18th of January at CasoinN da Giorgio restaurant, with a 1920’s Murder Mystery theme!

Glitches in supersolids: links between neutron stars and quantum matter

Glitches in supersolids: links between neutron stars and quantum matter

By emulating the connection between a rotating supersolid phase and an external solid phase, we were able to replicate “glitches” – sudden jumps in the solid angular momentum driven by quantum vortices leaving the supersolid.

Cluster of Excellence Quantum Science Austria granted

Cluster of Excellence Quantum Science Austria granted

Three Clus­ters of Excel­lence in Inns­bruck have been funded! With highly endowed clusters of excellence, the Austrian Science Fund FWF creates Austrian flagships of basic research. The University of Innsbruck will coordinate the Cluster of Excellence for Quantum Sciences.

Bloch Oscillations

Bloch Oscillations

By letting an erbium quantum droplet fall under gravity through an optical lattice, it is possible to understand the inter-atomic interactions and quantum fluctuations through variations of the Bloch oscillation.  

ERC Advanced Grant DymetEr has been funded!

ERC Advanced Grant DymetEr has been funded!

Our group studies dipolar quantum gases made of  Erbium (Er) and Dysprosium (Dy) atoms. These extraordinarily magnetic species are a powerful new resource for reaching quantum simulation with strong connectivity, in which each atom is coupled to the other over long distances, and exploring exotic phases of matter that have no classical counterpart.

We have three labs: the ERBIUM LAB, where Er was Bose condensed for the first time ever, the Er-Dy LAB which studies quantum dipolar mixtures under a quantum-gas microscope, and the T-REQs LAB, where we trap Er atoms in arrays of optical tweezers for Rydberg physics. Recently, we have established a Theory Group aimed at studying and predicting dipolar phenomena in dipolar quantum gases and mixtures.

The group, led by Francesca Ferlaino, is jointly located at the  Institute for Experimental Physics (IExP) of the University of Innsbruck and at the Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information (IQOQI) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, and it is part of  the Innsbruck Center for Ultracold Atoms and Quantum Gases

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News from the labs

In joint theoretical and experimental work with our theory colleagues A.-M. Rey (JILA) and B. Zhu (ITAMP) we investigate dipolar induced magnetization-conserving spin exchange dynamics with fermionic Er in a 3D optical lattice. Our work is now published in Physical Review Research.
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In a combined theory and experimental work, we study the elementary excitations of trapped dipolar quantum gases crossing from regular superfluid to supersolid. Our work is now published in PRL and summarized in the Synopsis by Sophia Chen.
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In quantum physics, the spectrum of elementary excitations dictates the way a quantum system behaves and reacts to perturbations. Hence, in superfluids, the possibility of frictionless flow is encoded in their excitation spectrum.
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Group news

On the International Women's Day March 8, 2012 a team led by Francesca Ferlaino created the very first BEC from highly-magnetic erbium atoms in their lab at the University of Innsbruck.
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Elena has been awarded the prize “Ho una laurea nella manica” established by her hometown for young people who graduated cum laude in 2020.
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Our new pre-print with collaborators at ICFO, Barcelona, investigates the topological properties of the bond order wave in the extended Fermi-Hubbard model.
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Welcome and goodbye

Welcome to Amal El-Arrach and Simon Gschwendter, who have joined respectively the T-REQS and the Erbium teams for their master thesis.
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Welcome to Dr. Hagai Edri (right) and Julián Maloberti (left) who have joined the T-Reqs team as postdoctoral fellow and Phd student, respectively.
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Beginning in July, Russell joined the University of Innsbruck as an Assistant Professor. He is building a theory group within the Department of Experimental Physics, with a focus on ultracold quantum gases, most notably bringing his expertise on dipolar Bose-Einstein condensates. He is looking forward to working in Innsbruck and
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