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 our Erbium experiment, we have created the first two component dipolar Fermi gas with tunable interactions. This paves the way to studies of BEC-BCS physics in presence of an unprecedented few-body scattering scenario, including anisotropic long-range dipolar interactions and anisotropic short-range interactions.
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In collaboration with our theory colleagues from Serbia (Antun Balaž, Vladimir Veljic), Germany (Axel Pelster) and Brazil (Aristeu R. P. Lima), we have investigated the ground-state properties of dipolar Fermi gases, extending the current understanding to the case of arbitrary dipole orientation and trapping geometries.
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Now in Nature Physics! In collaboration with our theory collaborators from Innsbruck (Rick van Bijnen) and Hannover (Falk Wächtler and Luis Santos), we have observed for the first time so-called roton quasiparticles in an ultracold quantum gas of highly magnetic bosonic erbium.
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Group news

We have produced our first ultracold atomic cloud of erbium atoms in our new T-REQS lab!
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Francesca has been awarded the Cardinal Innitzer Prize for Natural Sciences 2021 last weekend in Vienna for her outstanding achievements in the field of ultracold quantum gases. Her pioneering work with lathanoid atoms has been internationally groundbreaking in this field.
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Applications have now opened for the Introductory Course on Ultracold Quantum Gases 2022 winter school. This will take place in Innsbruck between the 9th and 11th February 2022.
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Welcome and goodbye

Alexandre de Martino, master student from the Institut d'Optique at Palaiseau, France, joins our group for five months to do his final master internship. He will focus on upgrading the transversal cooling scheme of our Erbium experiment.
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Benedict Hochreiter has joined the T-REQS team for his master thesis.  He will concentrate on Rydberg physics in multi electron atoms.
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