When the Foundation for Strategic Research appointed the Research Leaders of the Future, two of the 16 selected researchers were from MC2. Anton Frisk-Kockum and Raphaël Van Laer both receives a grant of 15 million SEK each over a five-year period and will during the program participate in a solid leadership training.
“I’m both humbled by the trust in me and my research ideas that SSF shows by awarding this grant, and excited to start the project”, says Anton Frisk Kockum, who receives the grant for the project “Quantum simulation and communication with giant atoms”.
The project aims to harness a new regime of light-matter interaction, so-called giant atoms, for useful applications. In these systems, interference effects make it possible to turn on and off the coupling between a system emulating the properties of an atom and a surrounding environment.
Two purposes
"I will use this setup for two purposes: first to efficiently simulate quantum systems of interest (e.g., molecules) that interact with their surroundings, and second to enable communication between quantum systems, e.g., two quantum-computing processors", says Anton Frisk Kockum.
"This funding will let me create a research group devoted to giant atoms and their applications. I currently have one PhD student working on these topics. I will now recruit one postdoc and one more PhD student. The funding also comes with an excellent leadership training program, which I look forward to participating in and learning from."
Overlooked potential in acoustic and optical devices
Raphaël Van Laer receives the grant for his project “Attojoule-per-bit acousto-optics”.
"Society relies heavily on transistor-based information technologies such as computers and the internet. These systems became increasingly powerful in what is known as Moore’s law. Today, this trend is faltering as transistors are reaching performance limits. The project’s goal is to lay the foundations for new types of information technology with chip-scale light and sound", he says.
He aims to greatly reduce the energy footprint of emerging coherent information processors based on photonics and quantum technology.
High hopes and aspirations
"The broad potential of acousto-optic interactions has mostly been overlooked. In this project, we will develop near-term use-cases of acoustic and optical devices and especially in quantum technology. This will synergize well with the more fundamental quantum engineering we do", he says. He adds that it feels very exciting and humbling to receive the grant, and that it is a great opportunity that comes with great responsibility.
"We are a small team in quantum photonics with a new laboratory supported mainly by the EU and WACQT. The new SSF grant will make a big impact on our ability to pursue risky ideas and build critical mass. Our hopes and aspirations are high. The grant gives us a mandate to be brave and to keep going especially when things become difficult. We need to adapt and learn quickly from trial-and-error. I am also eager to join SSF's leadership program. Finally, I believe that the project will be well-suited for near-term interaction with related work at MC2. I look forward to exploring this with colleagues in photonics and quantum engineering", he says.
Contact
- Associate Professor, Applied Quantum Physics, Microtechnology and Nanoscience
- Doctor, Quantum Technology, Microtechnology and Nanoscience