Position Researcher e-mail Address Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin Institut für Physik 12489 Berlin Research Casimir Physics, Plasmonics, Non-Markovianity, Decoherence Weblinks Publication List Divisions Quantum Optics and Photonics (Q) Theoretical and Mathematical Physics (MP)

© Francesco Intravaia

Research Agenda: My research focuses on the theoretical investigation of light-matter interaction in micro- and mesoscopic systems, with special attention to quantum fluctuation-induced phenomena. These phenomena are deeply rooted in the quantum and statistical theories and, in the quantum case, they have their cornerstone in the uncertainty principle. Paradigmatic examples are van der Waals/Casimir forces between atoms and the Purcel effect affecting atoms near mesoscopic structures. The study of these interactions requires an all-around perspective on how different disciplines merge in the microscopic and mesoscopic world.
I investigate fluctuation-induced phenomena in many different scenarios. In particular I aim to understand the role they play in several fields of physics, ranging from quantum optics to dynamics of open quantum systems, from statistical physics to plasmonics, all the way down to quantum field theory and quantum thermodynamics.

Short Bio: I received my “Laurea” (Italian master's degree) in theoretical physics in 2002 from the Università degli Studi di Palermo, Italy. In 2005 I was awarded with a doctoral degree in physics from the Université Pierre and Marie Curie, for my work at the Laboratoire Kastler-Brossel in Paris, France. Later, I was an Alexander von Humboldt Postdoctoral Fellow at the Universität Potsdam, Germany, and a Director’s Postdoctoral Fellow at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, New Mexico, USA. From 2014-2019, after a short stay at the University of Nottingham, I worked at the Max Born Institute in Berlin and subsequently at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany, where I became a permanent staff member in 2019.