ONLINE: Matter waves and quantum machines

The Regional Group Siegen of the jDPG has invited Prof. Stefan Nimmrichter, who is professor in Siegen since the beginning of this year. Here is an abstract of the talk by him:

This talk will be a brief colloquial glimpse into the world of quantum nanophysics, as I experienced it during my scientific journey through the quantum and classical world. I will touch upon the topic of quantum foundations, covering fundamental experiments that demonstrate the quantum wave nature of massive nanoparticles by means of near-field interference, the question of spontaneous wave function collapse and decoherence, as well as an empirical classification of what it means for a quantum phenomenon to be macroscopic. Then I will switch gears and talk about quantum optical and optomechanical models for engines, fridges, and thermometers. Such nanoscale machines and devices operate according to the laws of quantum thermodynamics, which usually entail additional uncertainty due to quantum fluctuations, but also enable us to harness the potential of measurement backaction and quantum correlations. To fully understand nanoscale phenomena such as matter-wave interference and quantum machinery, one has to speak the language of open quantum systems, and my theoretical research is mostly focused on applying this language and developing it further for practical use in experiments.

At the end there will also be time to ask questions which are not regarding his talk.