Around 12 million euros for research: Top performance in quantum physics at RPTU confirmed

Photo of Professor Fleischhauer in front of a whiteboard covered with formulas
Professor Michael Fleischhauer, head of OSCAR steering committee

The University of Kaiserslautern-Landau will conduct cutting-edge research for another four years in the frame of the “OSCAR” Transregio program. As part of the state research center OPTIMAS, this collaborative research center is working on a toolbox that makes open quantum systems usable. On Friday, the German Research Foundation (DFG) announced that this program will be extended once again and that research funds amounting to several million euros will be made available to RPTU.

The OSCAR research team is breaking with a widespread paradigm in physics: quantum effects, which can lead to completely new properties, do not only occur when microscopic systems are isolated from their environment as well as possible. Rather, they can also be generated and stabilized if the systems are coupled to reservoirs, i.e. “open”. OSCAR's novel concept for controlling quantum systems thus represents a fundamentally new approach to quantum technologies.

“In recent years, we have been working on tools for quantum technologies that enable open quantum systems to be used reliably and reproducibly in research and development. In the coming funding period, we will be tackling more complex challenges. We are continuing our basic research, but we want to point the way towards possible applications,” explains physics professor Michael Fleischhauer, spokesperson for the Transregional Collaborative Research Center at RPTU.

The research team is focusing on application areas such as energy and information transport as well as nanomachines, which could serve as a catalyst for more efficient data processing and storage. OSCAR combines the research expertise of RPTU in Kaiserslautern, which is leading the program, and the University of Bonn.

Professor Dr. Werner R. Thiel, Vice President for Research at RPTU in Kaiserslautern, is delighted with this confirmation of the excellent research achievements in quantum physics: “I warmly congratulate our participating scientists on this success, which is the result of years of pioneering work.”

For more information:
Prof. Dr. Michael Fleischhauer
Chair of Theoretical Quantum Optics / RPTU in Kaiserslautern
Phone: 0631 205-3206
E-mail: mfleisch(at)rptu.de

Photo of Professor Fleischhauer in front of a whiteboard covered with formulas
Professor Michael Fleischhauer, head of OSCAR steering committee