The CZS Center QPhoton is supported by the Carl-Zeiss-Stiftung with EUR 12 Mio spanning over the three locations, and from 2022 until 2027. For more information, please contact:
Details, goals and recent activities of the CZS Center QPhoton is shown at:
QPhoton Innovation Projects are designed as "seed projects" that work to strengthen the cross-location relationship within the CZS Center QPhoton, address the development of novel, location-independent competencies and, among other goals, create a foundation for further competitiveness in national and international funding schemes. Each QPhoton Innovation Project should lead ideally to joint publications such that a collaborating record for future joint applications can be shown to exist.
Detailed information on the application procedure is given here. External link
The application deadline is now extended to November 15, 2023!
Michael Börsch (Jena), Jörg Wrachtrup (Stuttgart), Fedor Jelezko (Ulm) und Anke Krüger (Stuttgart)
Abstract: Active proteins control cellular life. The enzyme FoF1-ATP synthase supplies the energy in the form of the ATP molecule, in bacteria, in plants and animals, and in humans. As a rotary nanomotor, this enzyme converts an electrochemical membrane potential into a high-energy chemical bond in ATP in a highly efficient and rapid manner. This stored energy is then used for cellular processes. The complex random dynamics of the three-step motor function can only be observed under the microscope in a spatiotemporally separated, single enzyme. Quantum sensors such as the NV color center in nanodiamonds can detect three-dimensional motion with the highest precision when suitably attached to active proteins as markers.
In this CZS Center QPhoton Innovation project, the expertise in the production of NV-doped nanodiamonds and the measurement and analysis methods of NV spin manipulation are combined with a sensitive but rigid coupling chemistry of solids to soft proteins in aqueous solution. The rotary motor of the purified, modified FoF1-ATP synthase thus drives the tethered sensor, and the NV quantum sensor reports on all individual steps of the motor. Twenty years after the first joint preliminary considerations for this project, all experimental requirements are now being met, and the FoF1-ATP synthase (Jena), the coupling chemistry (Stuttgart), the quantum sensor module (Stuttgart) and the NV spin manipulation tools are being used at the three locations (Ulm) prepared for collaborative quantum-based research of single active proteins at work.
Heidemarie Schmidt (Jena), Marc Scheffler (Stuttgart), Martin Dressel (Stuttgart), Ciprian Padurariu (Ulm)
Abstract: Ultrafast superconducting single-photon nanowire detectors (SNSPDs) are versatile detectors with possible applications in quantum sensing, imaging, and information processing, e.g. in the telecom wavelength near 1550 nm in the infrared (IR). Unfortunately, SNSPDs are substantially less efficient in the IR than for visible and higher energy photons. In the project “Infrared single-photon detection via superconducting nanowires tailored by disorder, temperature, and magnetic field” groups from ACP Jena (SNSPD fabrication, transport properties), IQST Stuttgart (dynamics of superconductors), and IQST Ulm (microscopic model) will develop novel design rules and operation to enhance the IR sensitivity of SNSPDs. The research question at the heart of the project is: which new phenomena occur in the interplay of single photon absorption and vortex dynamics in a SNSPD with disorder if an external magnetic field is applied?
Sina Saravi (Jena), Tilman Pfau (Stuttgart), Joachim Ankerhold (Ulm)
Abstract: To date, many different technologies and solid-state material platforms for integrated optics have been evaluated for large-scale implementation of optical quantum information processing (QIP). However, all such platforms suffer from the same fundamental shortcoming, namely that single photons hardly interact with each other, and that very strong optical nonlinearities are required to induce all-optical interactions. The nonlinearity in solid-state materials is too weak for this purpose, and even the best state-of-the-art nanostructured nonlinear resonators can barely approach this regime. This is the main reason for the lack of on-demand and reproducible sources of single photons and scalable non-Gaussian states of light based on all-optical approaches, where such sources are highly desired for discrete variable and continuous variable QIP. The goal of this project is to create a hybrid platform for integrated optical QIP that can overcome this fundamental shortcoming. This will be done by utilizing the unique properties of atomic vapors of rubidium, in particular their few-photon nonlinearity, integrated with the nanostructured optical platform of lithium niobate on insulator (LNOI), which is one of the most promising candidates for the realization of integrated optical QIP systems. To create this hybrid platform and to explore its unique capabilities, we will combine the complementary expertise of the universities of Jena (expertise on nanostructured LNOI for integrated optics), Ulm (expertise on description of complex quantum systems), and Stuttgart (expertise on atomic vapors for quantum optics). We will establish the practical and technological foundation for the creation of this new hybrid platform and perform preliminary experimental demonstrations showing that this is a functional quantum optical system. In addition, we want to theoretically study the new possibilities for QIP that can result from such a hybrid platform.
Executive director CZS Center QPhoton
Email: t.pfau@physik.uni-stuttgart.de
Phone: +49 711 685 68025
www.pi5.uni-stuttgart.deExternal link
Co-director CZS Center QPhoton
Email: joachim.ankerhold@uni-ulm.de
Phone: +49 731 50-22831
www.uni-ulm.de/icqExternal link
Co-director CZS Center QPhoton
Email: andreas.tuennermann@uni-jena.de
Phone: +49 3641-9-47800
www.acp.uni-jena.de/tuennermann
Director of the Institute for Smart Sensors Stuttgart
Email: jens.anders@iis.uni-stuttgart.de
Phone: +49 711 685-67250
www.uni-stuttgart.de/andersExternal link
Director of Center for Integrated Quantum Science and Technology Stuttgart
Email: barz@fmq.uni-stuttgart.de
Phone: +49 711 685 61556
www.barzgroup.deExternal link
Co-Director of the Abbe Center of Photonics, Jena
Email: s.graefe@uni-jena.de
Phone: +49 3641-9-48330
www.acp.uni-jena.de/graefe
Director of the Institute of Biophysics Ulm
E-Mail: christof.gebhardt@uni-ulm.de
Phone: +49 731 50-23750
www.uni-ulm.de/nawi-biophysExternal link
Co-Director of the Abbe Center of Photonics, Director of the Leibniz IPHT Jena
Email: juergen.popp@uni-jena.de
Phone: +49 3641-9-48320
www.acp.uni-jena.de/popp
Director of the Institute of Quantum Optics Ulm
E-Mail: fedor.jelezko@uni-ulm.de
Phone: +49 731/50-23750
www.quantenoptik.deExternal link
