University of Innsbruck

The Institute for Theoretical Physics is part of the School of Mathematics, Computer Science and Physics at the University of Innsbruck. It currently hosts nine research groups with a strong emphasis on fundamental quantum physics and quantum information theory including several recent ERC award and START prize winners. The Institute has close links to the Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information (IQOQI) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences located in Innsbruck. It has close links to research groups in Experimental (Profs. Blatt, Ferlaino, Grimm, Kirchmair, Nägerl, Weihs, Northup, Bernien) and Theoretical Physics (Profs. Briegel, Pichler, Ritsch, Lechner, Dür, Zoller) at the University of Innsbruck as well as to the Vienna University of Technology (TUW) and the Faculty of Physics at Universität Wien (UNIVIE). In particular, a recently (2023) established national excellence Cluster, QuantA, connects the Austrian efforts in the field of quantum science succeeding the Erwin Schrödinger Center for Quantum Science (ESQ). The institute is closely linked to the two Innsbruck based quantum information startups Parity Quantum Computing (PQC) and Quantum Network Design (QND).

Key facilities for the proposal include > 1000-core computer cluster exclusively available to the Institute for Theoretical Physics as well as access to the university grid computers LEO and Austrian grid for large-scale simulations.

We have an open PhD position. 

Team members

Helmut Ritsch was born in 1962 in Mieders, Tyrol. He concluded his university studies at Innsbruck in 1989 with a PhD in physics. After some time spent as a Postdoc at various locations as Milano, Boulder or Konstanz  in 1993 he completed his habilitation in theoretical physics. From that point on he has been leading a Quantum Optics and Cavity Quantum Electrodynamics research group at the university of Innsbruck. In almost three decades of academia Helmut Ritsch has been awarded many prestigious prizes, he has been guest lecturer at numerous renowned institutions around the world and he is routinely invited to present at colloquia and conferences. He is married and has two daughters. In his spare time he likes to enjoy nature, mostly in the form of sports like skiing or mountain biking.
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Contact: [email protected]

Laurin Ostermann is a senior scientist in the group of Helmut Ritsch. He received his PhD in October 2016 at Innsbruck and his thesis “Collective Radiation of Coupled Atomic Dipoles and the Precise Measurement of Time” touches on many aspects relevant to the present proposal: seminal deliberations on decay channels in ensembles of interacting emitters, using super-/sub-radiant states in an optical lattice clock Ramsey scheme, optimizing lattice geometries of optical clocks as well as investigating properties of superradiant lasing, etc.

Contact: [email protected]
Personal webpage

Barna received his Master in Physics at the Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest. He joined the research group in Innsbruck, where he will investigate the Doppler-slowing and cooling of positronium using theoretical techniques.
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Contact: [email protected]