Professor Christof Weitenberg Secures ERC Advanced Grant

Christof Weitenberg joined the Department of Physics as Professor for Ultracold Quantum Gases in 2024. His research group examines how atoms behave when they are brought down to extremely low temperatures – close to absolute zero – by means of special laser and evaporative cooling. These ultracold atoms enable the researchers to gain insights into the behavior of quantum matter. In addition to the regular ERC Advanced Grant of €2.5 million over five years, Weitenberg is receiving a further €1 million to finance new major equipment.

“Our goal is to simulate exotic states of matter in the laboratory that otherwise only occur in complex solids,” explains Professor Weitenberg. “To do this, we trap ultracold atoms in so-called ‘optical lattices’ formed by laser light, where they behave analogous to electrons in a solid.” The project “InToCold” is now concentrating on topological quantum states. To produce these exotic states, the team must transfer the ultracold atoms to energetically higher bands in the lattice sites and engineer strong interactions between neighboring atoms. To investigate the resulting quantum states, the researchers will then use a novel type of microscope that allows an effective resolution of just a few nanometers. 

“We hope these experiments will give us new insights into the exotic behavior of topological quantum matter, which could be of relevance for topological quantum computers in the future,” says Weitenberg. 

About Professor Christof Weitenberg

Professor Christof Weitenberg studied physics and musical composition in Saarbrücken. He earned his doctoral degree at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (LMU) in 2011 before joining the École Normale Supérieure in Paris as a postdoctoral fellow. In 2013, he moved to the University of Hamburg as group leader and received an ERC Starting Grant in 2018 to investigate exotic particles called anyons. He has been a professor at TU Dortmund University since 2024, where he heads a research group on ultracold quantum gases.

To the ERC announcement 

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