Research groups in the Quantum Matter & Optics programme investigate electronic properties of matter and light-matter interactions with emphasis on quantum information.

Top scientists of three Dutch universities are working on software and systems for quantum computers. Researchers of the Leiden Institute of Advanced Computer Science (LIACS) and the Leiden Institute of Physics (LION) are developing new algorithms to make those super computers work. The coming years,…

Promotor: R. Gill, Co-promotor: P. Massart

Promotor: Prof.dr. D. Bouwmeester, Co-promotor: M.P. van Exter

Promotor: Ronald Cramer, Co-promotor: Serge Fehr

This thesis is a collection of theoretical works aiming at adjusting quantum algorithms to the hardware of quantum computers.

Leiden physicists Tjerk Oosterkamp and Dirk Bouwmeester have received a 1.3 million euro Science-Groot grant from NWO to catch a mystery at the core of quantum mechanics, together with Amsterdam physicist Jasper van Wezel.

Promotor: C. W. J. Beenakker, Co-promotor: J. K. Asboth

The research program of the QO group has three leading themes: Optical Physics, Quantum Optics, and Photon-Matter Interactions. We work mostly at the boundaries between these themes with entanglement as a bridging and binding agent.

Why do black holes emit thermal radiation? And how does a closed quantum system thermalize?

We study the dynamics of individual emitters in micro cavities.

The quantum nature of matter and light has grown into a broad and fruitful research field for theorists and experimentalists alike. It combines foundational research with toward applications, the most well known of which is the quantum computer.

In Quantum mechanics, particles can be in multiple positions simultaneously. Yet, when a measurement is made, the particle is found only in one place. Technology has come to a point where we may design experiments that will tell us how.

The Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics states that a measurement collapses a wavefunction onto an eigenstate of the corresponding measurement operator.

Our group explores the larger domain of quantum measurement. In particular we investigate two themes that are closely connected: The detection of specially prepared quantum states of light and understanding and characterizing quantum photon detectors.

Quantum computers deserve their own quantum internet. This is a network that dispatches information not in the form of bits - ones and zeros - but rather as qubits, just like in the quantum computer itself. In the view of Dirk Bouwmeester, a professor in Leiden’s Quantum Matter & Optics research group,…

This thesis covers various applications of topology in condensed matter physics and quantum information.

The worldwide race to the quantum computer is in full swing. This computer can take on computing tasks that we can only dream of today, such as finding proteins that can be used as medicines in seconds flat. Leiden physicists have discovered how the Majorana particle can be used as a building block…

Bouwmeester

During my PhD research, I studied the photon statistics of light emitted by a microcavity that contains a single quantum dot (QD) on resonance.

In my research, we developed a method to distinguish knots. A knot is a mathematical depiction of the everyday knot that occurs in ropes and cords.

The research group ‘Quantum and Society’ explores the boundary between quantum technology and science communication.

Promotor: C.W.J. Beenakker, Co-Promotor: A.R. Akhmerov

We are a dynamic research group at the Leiden Institute of Physics. Our aim is to explore and understand quantum materials, including strange metals, high-temperature superconductors, and quantum critical electron matter.

Promotor: Prof.dr.ir. J.W.M. Hilgenkamp, Prof.dr. J. van den Brink

Promotor: C.W.J. Beenakker, Co-promotor: M.T. Wimmer

This master’s programme combines Physics with Data Science. You will learn how physics has its own tricks to deal with big data and how techniques from machine learning and deep learning can be applied to classical and quantum data. The first focus of attention is on classical data, including data mining,…

Promotor: Prof.dr. D. Bouwmeester, Co-Promotor: M.J.A. de Dood

The master’s specialisation Research in Physics, Quantum Matter and Optics at Leiden University offers a thorough experience on the front line of physics research with a practical training of communicative and computer skills. The programme focuses on Condensed Matter problems, such as Molecular Electronics,…

Machine learning - on classical computers- has made great progress in the past five years. Computer translation of speech and text is just one example. In Leiden, some researchers expect that machine learning, empowered by quantum systems, even if they only contain a few dozen qubits, can lead to a…

Schalm

In our lab, we investigate the physics and material properties of low-dimensional systems.

Quantum critical metals at vanishing fermion flavor number.

Advancing the understanding of the interaction of light and matter on the single-quantum level is important for near-future quantum technologies but also to answer fundamental questions.

This thesis described the development of novel scanning tunneling microscopy techniques to investigate strongly correlated electronic states in quantum matter.

In this work we describe three methods to improve the performance of Quantum Field Theory calculations.

The dissociation of CH4 into CH3 + H on a metal surface is the rate determining step in processes which produce hydrogen, such as steam reforming and catalytic partial oxidation. Ultimately, we want to study the dissociation of methane on Ni(111) and Pt(111) quantum mechanically while taking into account…

This thesis considers multi-prover commitment schemes whose security is based on restrictions on the communication between the provers.

Promotor: Prof.dr. M.A.G.J. Orrit

Promotor: S.M. Verduyn Lunel, Co-promotor: S.C. Hille

Leiden University is following the recommendations of the Dutch Institute of Public Health and Environment (RIVM) in order to ensure the health and safety of its students and staff. Before arrival, make sure to familiarise yourself with coronavirus measures and quarantine requirements that are currently…

An important discovery makes it possible to communicate complex information among multiple people without the message being cracked. The communication can also relate to complex information.

Research in the van Exter lab focuses on quantum aspects of light and light-matter interaction. One of our long-term goals is to develop a reliable quantum memory, based on a single emitter in an open micro cavity.

The research in my group addresses a range of topics related to quantum many-body physics.

In the weekly magazine “Mare” from Leiden University, an interview with the Leiden statistics prof. dr. Richard Gill has been published recently about his contribution to the Delfts quantum-experiment.

Physicist Martin van Exter works with light at nanoscale, at the forefront of nanocomputer research. But as Director of Education he also has a vision for physics teaching. Inaugural lecture 18 November.

The small quantum world and our world of perception obey different laws of nature. Leiden physicists search for the border between both worlds. In an article published soon in Physical Review Letters they set an upper limit.