14 December 2023

Monika Aidelsburger launches new W2 research group „Engineered Quantum Systems“ at MPQ

After four years as Professor for synthetic quantum matter at the Ludwig Maximilians Universität in Munich, Monika Aidelsburger is moving to a permanent W2 position at the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics. There, she will establish her own and independent W2 research group on „Engineered Quantum Systems“ focusing on how quantum systems can be systematically constructed from many individually controllable atoms in order to answer complex questions in solid-state physics, but also in other areas such as particle physics or high-energy physics. As another line of research, her group will further continue to develop these experimental methods and combine them with high-precision spectroscopy to investigate fundamental questions such as: Are the physical constants really constant?

„We feel very fortunate to welcome Monika at MPQ. She will certainly expand our areas of research at the highest excellence level, and further consolidate our excellent reputation worldwide", says Ignacio Cirac, Managing Director at MPQ.

Monika Aidelsburger specialises in synthetic quantum matter, a branch of experimental quantum physics, or more precisely quantum many-body physics. One focus is the study of exotic quantum systems such as ultracold quantum gases in optical lattices of laser light, and quantum simulation. With major scientific publications, Monika Aidelsburger is now one of the world leaders in experimental quantum physics. She has succeeded in simulating quantum physical phenomena on ultracold atoms, investigating concepts that were previously considered experimentally unobservable. Her work has been published in top international journals and cited thousands of times by scientists around the world.

"I am delighted to be rejoining the MPQ. It is a special honour to be able to work with such excellent scientists. I am looking forward to the new opportunities and tasks at the institute“, says Monika Aidelsburger.

After almost four years as a professor at the Faculty of Physics at the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich, Monika Aidelsburger has accepted a permanent position as a W2 research group leader at the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics on 1 June 2023. There she will establish her own independent research area with PhD students, postdocs and her own laboratory space. Due to the long timescales of quantum optical experiments with highly complex sensitive setups, her move from LMU to MPQ will be gradual. The conversion of laboratory space has already begun, and Monika Aidelsburger's first lab is expected to be operational in 2024. She will have a total of 200 square meters of laboratory space at her disposal. In parallel, she will continue to hold a part-time position at the university.

About Monika Aidelsburger

Monika Aidelsburger was born in 1987 in Aichach, Bavaria. In 2015, she completed her PhD in physics with "summa cum laude" at the Chair of Experimental Physics at the LMU Munich, followed by postdoctoral positions at the MPI for Quantum Optics in Garching and the Collège de France in Paris. After returning to Munich in 2017, Monika Aidelsburger took over the supervision of several research groups at Immanuel Bloch's Chair of Quantum Optics. In 2019, she won a Starting Grant from the European Research Council (ERC) on the topic of synthetic quantum matter and was subsequently appointed at the age of 32 as LMU's youngest professor for Synthetic Quantum Matter. Monika is also co-coordinator of the RU:G "EXxplorative Directions" within MCQST.

Monika Aidelsburger is a member of AcademiaNet, the international database of outstanding female scientists, the American Physical Society (APS) and the German Physical Society (DPG), and, since 2023, the German Academy of Science and Engineering (acatech). Important awards in her very impressive career so far include the Alfried Krupp Promotion Prize for Young University Teachers, worth one million euros, and the Klung Wilhelmy Science Prize in 2021. Most recently, she won the TOPTICA Junior BEC Award 2023.