University of Innsbruck

Institute for Theoretical Physics

Three Clus­ters of Excel­lence in Inns­bruck

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 and is involved in two Clusters of Excellence on political, social and cultural developments in Eurasia and on materials for energy conversion and storage.

Two-dimen­sional quan­tum freeze

Researchers at ETH Zurich and TII Abu Dhabi, with the support of quantum optics theorists from Innsbruck, Austria, have succeeded in simultaneously cooling the motion of a tiny glass sphere in two dimensions to the quantum ground-state. This represents a crucial step towards a 3D ground-state cooling of a massive object and opens up new opportunities for the design of ultra-sensitive sensors.

A Quan­tum Video Reel

When it comes to creating ever more intriguing quantum systems, a constant need is finding new ways to observe them in a wide range of physical scenarios.  JILA Fellow Cindy Regal and JILA and NIST Fellow Ana Maria Rey have teamed up with Oriol Romero-Isart from the University of Innsbruck and IQOQI to show that a trapped particle in the form of an atom readily reveals its full quantum state with quite simple ingredients, opening up opportunities for studies of the quantum state of ever larger particles.

Lev­er­ag­ing Ethics to Make Quan­tum Research Sus­tain­able

Innsbruck is a leading center in the development of new quantum technologies. In order to understand the processes of societal change triggered by these technologies and to be able to develop corresponding ethics frameworks, the University of Innsbruck is founding today the Innsbruck Quantum Ethics Lab (IQEL), in which experts from various disciplines will work together.