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

Now published in Nature Physics, we have observed the first vortices in a dipolar quantum gas! The dipolar interaction brings forth a plethora of new physics to vortices, that we begin to investigate finding the coveted stripe vortex lattice!
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Studying erbium atoms in a one-dimensional lattice, we utilize Bloch oscillations to evaluate the role played by the quantum fluctuations and observe an interaction-driven transition to a localized state. Additionally, we reveal the existence of lattice-bound macrodroplets and two-dimensional bright solitons.
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In this now published work, we investigate the extent that angular oscillations of a dipolar supersolid can tell us about the superfluidity of the system. It extends previous studies of linear droplet arrays to two-dimensional crystals.
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Group news

Francesca Ferlaino will be featured in RadioKulturhaus' "Was die Welt zusammenhält" program on March 6th 2024! 
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Our PhD student Elena is visiting for one month the group of Professor Blair Blakie at Otago University in New Zealand, as part of her DK-ALM research stay abroad.
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Our 2024 group dinner took place on the 18th of January at CasoinN da Giorgio restaurant, with a 1920's Murder Mystery theme!
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Welcome and goodbye

Welcome to Sarah Embacher, who has joined the erbium team for her Masters' thesis.
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Claudia Politi and Gabriele Natale obtained their PhD in May 2023 and are now heading to ETH Zürich to work respectivly in the groups of Prof. J. Home and Prof. T. Esslinger. We wish you great succes in your next adventures in physics!
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Welcome to Andrea Di Carli, who has joined the Dipolar team as Academy Scientist. Andrea joined us from the group of Prof. S. Kuhr at University of Strathclyde.
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