Home | Quantum Optics Group

Our research

Welcome! We are carrying out research in the field of quantum optics and quantum many-body systems using ultracold atomic and molecular quantum gases at the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics and the Ludwig Maximilians University. Furthermore, our group is part of the Munich Quantum Center.

Join us!

We are always looking for Master students, PhD students and Postdocs.

Get to know our team members!

Our entire group: Bachelor, Master and PhD Students, Postdoctoral Researchers and Senior Scientists as well as Technical and Administrative staff.

Our Labs

Take a look into our labs and find out about the different research projects.

NEWS

Immanuel Bloch receives the 2026 Wolf Prize in Physics

October 02, 2026

Immanuel Bloch has been awarded the prestigious Wolf Prize for his pioneering research with ultracold atoms.

Observation of emergent scaling of spin-charge correlations at the onset of the pseudogap

January 23, 2026

In this work, a quantum gas microscope was used to investigate how magnetic correlations evolve at the onset of the pseudogap in the Fermi–Hubbard model, a paradigmatic theoretical framework for…

Long-range interacting quantum systems under a quantum-gas microscope

January 15, 2026

The competition between different length scales in quantum many-body systems gives rise to phenomena such as correlated dynamics and nonlocal order.

Micius Quantum Prize for Immanuel Bloch

August 12, 2025

This year, the Award, named after the ancient Chinese philosopher goes to Immanuel Bloch.

EVENTS

Group seminar at MPQ and Zoom: Towards a new generation dysprosium quantum gas machine – exploring opportunities with ultraviolet light

October 29, 2026

Kevin Ng, University of Stuttgart, Germany
MPQ Lecture hall and Zoom
Thursday, 29 October 26, 09:00am (MEZ)

Group seminar at MPQ and Zoom: Atomic tweezer arrays strongly coupled to light

October 06, 2026

Prof. Julian Léonard, ISTA Vienna, Austria
Group seminar at MPQ lecture hall and Zoom
Tuesday, 06 October 26, 2:00 pm (CEST)

Group Seminar at MPQ and via Zoom: Color centers in silicon nanostructures at mK cryogenics

September 24, 2026

Laurits Piehorsch, University of Copenhagen
Group seminar at MPQ lecture hall and via Zoom
Thursday, September 24, 9:00 am (CEST)

Group seminar at LMU and Zoom: An Optical Accordion for Probing BKT Physics via Cavity Superradiance

August 04, 2026

Erenay Karacan, ETH Zurich, Switzerland
Group seminar at LMU seminar room and Zoom
Tuesday, 4 August 26, 09:00am (CEST)

Group seminar at LMU and Zoom: Shaping uniform transport channels for ⁶Li with a spatial light modulator

July 24, 2026

David Kielert, ETH Zurich, Switzerland
Group seminar at LMU seminar room and Zoom
Friday, 24 July 2026, 10:00am (CEST)

Latest news from our group

Congratulations to Andreas von Haaren on his PhD!

August 06, 2026

We are delighted to celebrate Andreas von Haaren's successful PhD defense of his thesis, "A New ⁶Li Quantum Gas Microscope with Hz-Scale Repetition Rate.”
Congratulations Andreas on this remarkable achievement! We wish you all the very best and every success in your future endeavors.

Congratulations to Shrestha Biswas on her PhD!

August 06, 2026

We are delighted to celebrate Shrestha Biswas’s successful PhD defense of her thesis, "Double microwave-shielded fermionic polar molecules."
We congratulate Shrestha on this outstanding achievement and wish her continued success in her future career.

Dr. Alexander Impertro receives Theodor Hänsch PhD Award 2025

May 21, 2026

Alex receives the prize for his outstanding dissertation entitled “Quantum Gas Microscopy of Interacting Quantum Matter with Artificial Gauge Fields”.