QUACS Network Young Researchers

D.Sketches of the Young Researchers.

 
Weizmann:     

Dr Sophie Pellegrin: (supervised by Prof. G. Kurizki, consulted by Dr A. Kofman)

She has obtained her PhD at Lab. Aimé Cotton, Orsay (CNRS) with Prof. V. Akulin in 2002. PhD Thesis: Modèles de diffusion par des systemes complexes, application aux agrégats. She joined the Weizmann node in Nov. 2002. She successfully completed her research project on nonadiabatic effects on radiative decay and decoherence near continuum edges and their role in optimizing the storage and manipulation of quantum information. She is also collaborating with A. Sarfati (Orsay) on the description of metallic nanoparticles interactions with atoms by nonadiabatic transitions at a continuum edge. She has successfully managed all the network coordination activities (website, meetings and schools planning, annual reporting etc.). She was also the principal editor of the 700-page book entitled “Decoherence, Entanglement and Information in Complex Systems” (Kluwer, in press) described above.

Dr Fabien Portier: (supervised by Prof. Heiblum)

He obtained his PhD at SPEC (CEA Saclay) in June 2002 under the supervision of Francis (Tito) Williams. Subject: Direct measurement of  the structure factor of a two-dimensional electron system on the surface of superfluid helium. He joined the Weizmann QUACS node in April 2003 and stayed there till Dec. 31 2003. His work was mainly experimental in the field of low-dimensional Quantum Hall systems. He also acquired some experience in Prof. Heiblum’s mesoscopic interferometry and dephasing. He also interacted with the theoretical condensed-matter group at Weizmann. He is now back at CEA Saclay, where he has a research position.

 
Vienna:          

Dr. Aurélien Drezet: (supervised by Prof. M. Arndt/ Prof. A. Zeilinger)

He obtained his PhD with Serge Huant on SNOM methods in Grenoble. He joined the Vienna group in February 2003. His integration was supported by a German course. He assisted in the design of molecular fluorescence detection schemes and worked on the theory of decoherence and which-path detection in molecule interferometry. After one year in Vienna the contacts through the network served him to find a post-doc position in a group working on near-field light optics, which is closer to his original interests.

Dr. André Stefanov: (supervised by Prof. M. Arndt/ Prof. A. Zeilinger)

He obtained his PhD with Nicolas Gisin in Geneva, working on experiments with entangled photons and the development of IR photon detectors. He has been working with the Vienna group since September 2003 but joined the QUACS team only in October 2004. He has now specialized on novel detection schemes for molecular interferograms, and the use of decoherence for molecule metrology.

 Dr. Fabienne Goldfarb: (supervised by Prof. M. Arndt/ Prof. A. Zeilinger)

She obtained her PhD in Orsay, working on experiments on photo-detachment electron interferometry. She has been working with the Vienna group since September 2003 but joined the QUACS team only in October 2004. She has now specialized on building a new mixed Talbot Lau interferometer for molecules as well as on the use of molecule interferometry for molecule lithography.

Kaiserslautern:

Dr Monika Pietrzyk (supervised by Pr M. Fleischhauer)

She obtained her PhD in 2001 at Warsaw University of Technology with the thesis work: “Models of Picosecond Light Propagation in Nonlinear Planar Waveguides of Kerr-Type”. She has been a postdoctoral visiting scientist in Edingburgh (Scottland), Jena (Germany), and Trieste (Italy). Her scientific background is computational nonlinear optics. She joined the Kaiserslautern node of the network in January 2003. She was responsible for all the numerical calculations needed for the research on the preparation of coherent superposition states and made a contribution to the manuscripts resulting from this work. She left the group in April 2004.

Ruth Garcia Fernandez (supervised by Pr K. Bergmann)

She has obtained her diploma at the University of Vigo, Spain, and  joined the Kaiserslautern node in May 2003 for her PhD studies.  She has been responsible for operating a molecular beam apparatus as well as up to three laser systems needed for the experimental studies on the Autler-Townes effect and new excitation schemes of high liyng molecular states. She now is responsible for the experimental program on a daily basis and for the detailed analysis of the data and is making a major contribution to the manuscripts resulting from this work.

 
Orsay:

Dr Jens Clausen

PhD supervisor: Dirk-Gunnar Welsch, U. Jena, Germany (2003).
Subject of PhD work: Transformation of quantum states of electromagnetic fields
Joined the Orsay node in July 2003 (supervised by Prof. Akulin). Has been working on quantum dynamics effected by repeated ancilla measurements.
Title of papers summarizing this research:
* "Quantum Dynamics effected by repeated measurements",
J.Clausen, J.Salo, V.Akulin, S.Stenholm, contribution to DEICS Workshop Proceeding
"Decoherence, Entanglement and Information Protection in Complex Quantum Systems",
* "Quantum control using a microscopic meter" (to be submitted, regular paper).
Total number of months: 17
Progress has been made with regard to the study of theoretical physical methods.      
Attended a beginners-course in French at the Université de Paris-Sud, Faculté des Sciences d'Orsay. Attained basic command of French.
He has completed his investigation of decoherence and entanglement of internally-translationally coupled oscillators. This work (supervised by Professor V. Akulin) is in collaboration with the Weizmann node. He is about to commence an appointment at Weizmann with Prof. G. Kurizki.

 
Stockholm:

Dr Janne Salo (Supervised by Prof M. Salomaa)

He obtained his PhD at the Helsinki University of Technology in 2003. Title: “Propagation of Waves in Acoustic, Optical and Radio-Wave Fields.” After a brief scientific visit in Auckland, New Zealand in 2002, he has been at the Technical University of Helsinki. He has been at the KTH in Stockholm since 16.09.2003. He is ollaborating with Weizmann group within QUACS on memory effects and decoherence in quantum dynamical systems and with the Orsay group on the decoherence effects of continuous measurements.

Dr Monika Leibscher (Supervised by Prof I. Sh. Averbukh)

She obtained her PhD at the Weizmann Institute in 2002. Thesis topic “Quantum State Engineering”. Has worked in Stockholm (supervised by Prof. S. Stenholm) and in collaboration with Weizmann on control of laser-induced reactions by the utilization of space dependent coupling matrix elements, between 15 Nov. 2003 and April 30, 2004. She now holds a tenure-track position in the Freie Univ., Berlin.

 
Berlin:

Dr. Maciej Krzystyniak (supervised by Pr A. Dreismann)

He obtained his PhD thesis „Investigation of proteins and plant tissue using NMR relaxometry” in 2001 with Pr J. S. Blicharski at the Jagellonian Universtiy in Krakow, Poland.  He joined the Berlin node and started working in the QUACS project in October 2003 and has been integrated into the research programme satisfactorily. Being a specialist in nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), he has had to get training and experience with the neutron Compton scattering (NCS) method, which was completely new to him. After participating in three complete NCS-experiments with the special instrument Vesuvio of  ISIS, he has made very good progress with the acquisition of the new technique and the associated data analysis, in close collaboration with the other young researcher T. Abdul-Redah (subcontractor at ISIS). His tasks are measurement and neutron Compton scattering data reduction schemes. He is also gaining insight into the theoretical work on fundamentals of quantum entanglement and decoherence in condensed media.

Naples:          

Dr David Perez de Lara (supervised by Dr. E. Sarnelli) obtained his PhD in Madrid (Spain) in 2003, working on superconductive radiation detectors. He has made significant progress during his first year post-doc contract. He has been involved in the fabrication of superconducting thin films and junctions made of non conventional superconductors. He is also investigating the properties of medium and extremely overdamped junction devices, in both thermal and quantum regimes.

Dr Detlef Born (supervised by Prof. F. Tafuri) obtained his PhD in Jena, working on experiments on superconducting ring-type charge qubits. The experiments were done at very low temperatures (5mK). He is supposed to work from August 1^st 2004 to January 31^st 2006 and will work on Josephson junctions, low-temperature measurements and on ultra-thin films made by high critical temperature superconductors. Now he is configuring and installing a low noise and high accuracy low temperature (300mK) measurement set-up in the Naples group.

Dr Thilo Bauch (supervised by Prof. F. Tafuri) obtained his PhD at the University of Cologne, Germany, with the subject: “Quantum interference effects and time dependent electronic transport in metallic nanostructures”. During his research in mesoscopic physics he gained experience in thin film technologies, optical and electron beam lithography. He has extensive knowledge of high resolution electrical measurements at very low temperatures.  He is supposed to work from August 1st 2004 to January 31st 2005. He will work on macroscopic quantum tunneling experiments in  YBa₂Cu₃O_7-x Josephson junctions. Furthermore the experimental setup will be upgraded to allow the measurement of energy level quantization and macroscopic quantum coherence in quantum bit devices using YBa₂Cu₃O_7-x Josephson junctions.