QUACS is a Research Training Network funded by the European Commission's 5th Framework Improving Human Potential Programme . The network contract (HPRN-CT-2002-00309) was concluded between the European Commission and network participants on 1st August 2002 with duration of 48 months. The networks' research is devoted to the studies of interference, entanglement and decoherence in molecular, quasimolecular and condensed media systems and their manipulation. Training will be provided for young researchers (postdocs) in the areas of theoretical and experimental quantum dynamics/optics, quantum information, atomic, molecular and condensed-matter physics. For more information see Annex I.

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Entanglement and Decoherence from Nano- to Micro-Scales

Macromolecular Interferometry and Entanglement (A. Zeilinger, M. Arndt, Vienna)

Laser-Based Dimer Interferometry ( K. Bergmann, Kaiserslautern )

Entanglement and Decoherence of Frozen Rydberg Atoms (V. Akulin and P. Pillet, Orsay)

Neutron-Scattering by Entangled Protons (A. Dreismann, Berlin; E. Karlsson, Uppsala)

Theory of Quantum Transport in Mesoscopic and Nano-Scale Systems ( M. Blaauboer, Delft )

Mesoscopic Electron Interferometry and Entanglement ( M. Heiblum, Weizmann )

Macroscopic Quantum Coherence and Interferometry  in Superconductors and Josephson Junctions ( A. Barone and E. Sarnelli, Naples )

Research objectives:

The multidisciplinary character of the Network is a prerequisite for pursuing our objectives:

• Theoretical/diagnostic approaches to entanglement and decoherence in QUACS (Weizmann, Vienna, Orsay, Stockholm)
• Innovative matter-wave interferometry with controlled internal-translational entanglement of diatoms (Kaiserslautern, Orsay), macromolecules (Vienna), charged quasi particles (Weizmann/Delft) and Cooper pairs (Naples)
• Entanglement of protons in molecular/condensed media probed by neutron and Raman scattering (Berlin/Uppsala)

Universal strategies for manipulating decoherence and entanglement by novel control-field designs (Weizmann/Delft,Kaiserslautern, Orsay)

Training Programme:

1) The 2^nd QUACS Research Workshop on "Entanglement and Decoherence of Complex Quantum Systems" (Vienna, Austria, 5-7 September 2003) included the following leading external experts:

Wojciech Zurek, Los Alamos (quantum measurements and decoherence)

·       Claus Kiefer, Köln (quantum decoherence and cosmology)

·       Jean-Michel Raimond, Paris (cavity quantum electrodynamics)

·       Ferdinand Schmidt-Kaler, Innsbruck (quantum information processing in ion traps)

2) The 3rd QUACS Workshop: NATO Advanced Research Workshop on Decoherence, Entanglement and Information in Complex Systems (DEICS), (Les Houches,France,24-30 April 2004) included the invitation of the following external experts, with established international leadership in their fields (in alphabetical order):

·                     S. L. Braunstein, York (quantum information & computing)

·       V. Buzek, Bratislava (quantum information & computing)

·       A. Dykhne, Moscow  (quantum complex systems)

·       D. Esteve, CEA, France (superconducting qubits)

·       T. Gallagher, Virginia (cold Rydberg atoms)

·       S. Haroche, Collège de France  (quantum information in cavity QED)

·       L. Ioffe, Rutgers  (quantum information processing)

·       E. Mazets, St Petersburg  (quantum entanglement in BEC)

·       D. O’Dell, Sussex (long-range correlations in BEC)

·       Y. Ozhigov, Moscow (fermionic quantum computing)

·       D. Petrosyan, Crete (entanglement of slow-light polaritons)

·       E. Polzik, Copenhagen (macroscopic entanglement in gases)

·       D. Shepelyansky, Toulouse,France  (quantum computing in chaotic systems)

3) The 4^th QUACS activity was held in conjunction with the International School and Workshop on Quantum Entanglement, Decoherence, Information and Geometrical Phases in Complex Systems (ICTP, Trieste, Italy, 1-12 Nov. 2004). It included the following external experts with established international leadership in their fields: 

G.S. Agarwal, Oklahoma

Y. Aharonov, Tel Aviv

T.T. Basiev, Moscow

C.W.J. Beenakker, Leiden

J.D. Bekenstein, Jerusalem

M.V. Berry, Bristol

G. Blatter, ETH Zurich

S. Braunstein, York

M. Buettiker, Geneva

H.J. Carmichael, Auckland,New Zealand

G. Casati, Como

I.J. Cirac, MPQ Garching

S. Das Sarma, Maryland

A. Ekert, Cambridge

G. Falci, Catania

Y. Gefen, Weizmann

G. Harel, Bradford

J. Jones, Oxford

H. Koeppel, Heidelberg

D. Loss, Basel

N. Manini, Milano

I. Mazets, Ioffe, St. Petersburg

G.M. Palma, Milano

S. Pascazio, Bari

D. Petrosyan, IESL, Crete

G. Rempe, MPQ Garching

K. Richter, Regensburg

G. Schoen, Kaslsruhe

A. Stern, Weizmann

M.O. Scully, Texas A&M

D. Thouless, Seattle

L. Viola, Los Alamos/Dartmouth

P. Zanardi, Turin

W.H. Zurek, Los Alamos

i)                    All young researchers have attended the 2^nd and 3^rd network meetings / workshops in Vienna and Les Houches, where they presented their results and held extensive scientific discussions with other network participants and well-known external experts. 

ii)                  Rotations / secondments of young researchers during 1^st year: Monika Leibscher (Weizmann ® Stockholm); during the 2^nd year: Jens Clausen (Orsay ® Weizmann), Janne Salo (Stockholm ® Orsay).

iii)                 Tutoring by external experts (from inside and outside the network) is being implemented for all young researchers currently employed. The Vienna and Les Houches Research Workshops and Trieste School engaged world leading experts in all relevant fields (see above).

iv)                Training on special instruments is being given to the young researchers engaged in experimental work: Dr Fabien Portier, Weizmann, (MBE machine, electronic Mach-Zender interferometer), Dr Aurélien Drezet, Vienna, (molecular sources, molecular interferometers), Ruth Garcia Fernandez, Kaiserslautern, (molecular beam apparatus), Dr Maciej Krzystyniak , Berlin (neutron beam instrument + Vesuvio at ISIS).

v)                  The development of presentation skills is being pursued by encouraging each team to allow both oral and poster presentations by young researchers. Each of the young researchers currently employed has already given one or more seminars related to their project. The Research Workshops / Network Meetings (Vienna, September 2003 and Les Houches, April 2004) included talks by young researchers: R. Garcia Fernandez (Vienna workshop and Les Houches workshop), S. Pellegrin (Les Houches workshop), F. Portier (Vienna workshop). Editorial work on the book (see above) was performed by YR Sophie Pellegrin (Weizmann), with the help of YR Maciej Krzystyniak (Berlin) and YR Janne Salo (Stockholm).

vi)                Project management is being strongly encouraged as part of the training. Dr Sophie Pellegrin has been managing all network coordination activities (see above).

Visits and conferences of the young researchers:

 
1a) Sophie Pellegrin, Weizmann:

·       7th European / French-Israeli Symposium on Nonlinear and Quantum Optics (EURISNO/FRISNO 7) Les Houches, France, February 2003. “Non adiabatic control of decay near the continuum edge” (Poster).

·   Workshop “Decoherence, Entanglement and Information Protection in Complex
Quantum Systems (DEICS)", Les Houches, FR, April 25- 30, 2004. Lecture.

·       Seminar at Laboratoire Aimé Cotton, Orsay, France, November 2003.

1b) Fabien Portier, Weizmann:

2a) André Stefanov, Vienna:

·       Euresco Conference “Molecules of Biological Interest in the Gas Phase”, Exeter, U.K., 13.4.-18.4.2004. Invited Talk, “Neutral molecular beams and gas phase detection of fluorescent molecules for matter wave interferometry”

2b) Fabienne Goldfarb, Vienna:

·       Seminar "Molecular interferometry towards the mesoscopic world: Achievements, technical limits and outlooks", in the group of Molecular Physics (Prof. G. Meijer) of the Fritz-Haber Institute of Berlin, 20.2.2004, Germany

·       DEICS Workshop, Les Houches, France, 25-30/4/2004, poster.

·       International School and Workshop on Quantum Entanglement, Decoherence, Information and Geometrical Phases in Complex Systems (ICTP, Trieste, Italy, 1-12 Nov. 2004).

3a) Ruth Garcia-Fernandez, Kaiserslautern:

o      Poster: High resolution studies and applications of Autler-Townes effect in molecules

o      Poster: Coherent population transfer to highly excited states of Na₂ using delayed pulses

o       Poster: High resolution studies and applications of Autler-Townes effect in molecules

o      Poster: Coherent population transfer to highly excited states of Na₂ using delayed pulses

o      Poster: Anomalous appearance of the Autler-Townes effect due to interference with optical pumping in open systems

o      Poster: Anomalous appearance of the Autler-Townes effect due to interference with optical pumping in open systems

3b) Monica E. Pietrzyk, Kaiserslautern:

National and international conferences

·       68^th AMOP conference of the German Physics-Society, Munich, Germany, 22 – 26 / 3 / 2004. Poster: Atomic beam splitters  using multistate adiabatic passage           

·       Workshop “Decoherence, Entanglement and Information Protection in Complex Quantum Systems (DEICS)", Les Houches, France, April 25- 30, 2004. Poster: Atomic beam splitters  using multistate adiabatic passage

Conference at home scientific community

·       XXXVI Symposium on Mathematical Physics with special session “Open Systems & Quantum information”, June 9-12, 2004, Torun, Poland. Poster: Adiabatic creation of coherent superposition states in atomic beam

4) Jens Clausen, Orsay:

• DEICS workshop in Les Houches, France, 25-30 April 2004 (Poster).

• International School and Workshop on Quantum Entanglement, Decoherence, Information and Geometrical Phases in Complex Systems (ICTP, Trieste, Italy, 1-12 Nov. 2004): Lecture.

• NCS experiments on various benzene samples, 24 – 28 November 2003.

• NCS experiments on various HCl and DCl measurements, 24 – 29 January 2004.

·    NCS experiments with  light water, heavy water and mixtures of light and heavy water, liquid hydrogen,  benzene, lithium hydrides, 27 February  – 9 March 2004.

5a) Monika Leibscher, Stockholm:

• DEICS Workshop, Les Houches, France, 25-30/4/2004 

• CCP5 Workshop on Quantum Dynamics at Conical Intersections, Nunspeet, Netherlands, Oct. 2004.

5b) Janne Salo, Stockholm:

• DEICS Workshop, Les Houches, France, 25-30/4/2004

• International School and Workshop on Quantum Entanglement, Decoherence, Information and Geometrical Phases in Complex Systems (ICTP, Trieste, Italy, 1-12 Nov. 2004).

6) Maciej Krzystyniak, Berlin:

Visits and conferences in his home scientific community

• Seminar devoted to the open quantum systems and decoherence, at the Radiospectroscopy Division of the Jagellonian University, Kraków, Poland, discussion with Professor Blicharski. 9-13 October 2003.

• Presentation of a seminar under the title "Quantum Zeno Effect in Neutron Compton Scattering" at the Radiospectroscopy Division of the Jagellonian University, Kraków, Poland, discussion with Professor Blicharski. 12-17 March 2004.

• Seminar devoted to the open quantum systems and decoherence, at the Radiospectroscopy Division of the Jagellonian University, Kraków, Poland, discussion with Professor Blicharski. 5-13 April 2004. 

• AMPERE XII NMR School, Zakopane, Poland. 5-9 June 2004. 

• Visit to the Department of Electronics and Automatics of the Academy of Mining and Metallurgy in Kraków, Poland, Discussion with Piotr Bania about numerical procedures in Matlab used in large scale fitting problems. 27 July – 1 August 2004. 

• International Symposium on Metal-Hydrogen Systems, Fundamentals and Applications, Cracow, Poland, 5-10 September 2004. Presentation of the posters “Anomalous neutron Compton scattering cross section in zirconium hydride” and “Different dynamical behavior of protonic quantum entangled states in LaH₂ and LaH₃”.

Visits and conferences outside his home scientific community

• DEICS workshop in Les Houches, France, 25-30 April 2004. 

• “Tag der Chemie” Potsdam, the conference organised by the Berlin and Potsdam Universities, Germany, 7 July 2004. Presentation of the poster “Attosekunden-Chemie: Untersuchung des Bruchs einer C-H Bindung mit Neutronen- und Elektronen-Streuung“

• International School and Workshop on Quantum Entanglement, Decoherence, Information and Geometrical Phases in Complex Systems (ICTP, Trieste, Italy, 1-12 Nov. 2004).

• Deutsche Neutronstreutagung, Dresden, Germany, 1-4 September 2004. Presentation of the posters “Anomalous neutron Compton scattering cross section in zirconium hydride” and “Protonic quantum entanglement, decoherence and coupling to the environment revealed with neutron Compton scattering”.

Visits, Training and Experiments at ISIS, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory

7) David Perez de Lara, Naples:

·       DEICS Workshop, Les Houches, France, 25-30/4/2004.

Employment Opportunities:

Network Meetings/Schools Schedule

Mutual Visits

Scientific Highlights and Publications

Links to Other Related Networks:
ATESIT Network
COCOMO Network
QSTRUCT Network
QUANTIM Research Project
Physics of Quantum Information Network
Atomic/Molecular Manipulation Network
Microlasers and Cavity QED Network

Last updated: 09-05-2004