D-PHYS News

Researchers from the Institute for Quantum Electronics and the Quantum Center studied particle and entropy flows between two connected superfluid reservoirs and found unexpected evidence of irreversible and enhanced entropy transport.

Marina Marinkovic works to understand more about the strong force that binds quarks and gluons into hadrons as described by quantum chromodynamics.

A team including researchers from the Department of Physics at ETH Zurich found a method for creating electrically defined quantum dots with the potential for long-sought tunability and scalability.

Researchers from the Institute for Particle Physics and Astrophysics at ETH Zurich and the Department of Astrophysics at the University of Zurich asked if the potential future LIFE space mission could detect evidence of a habitable and inhabited Earth – and the answer is affirmative.

No two lecturers are likely to teach quantum mechanics in the same way, but many will agree that its richness and intrinsic peculiarities make for a wonderful playground for teaching experimentation.

Physics practicals allow undergraduate students to gain first-hand experience with conducting experiments in solid-state physics, quantum optics as well as nuclear and particle physics. PPLUS, a new project-based module, was launched in 2023 and offers an alternative to standard practicals. Thanks to recent support by the ETH Innovedum Fund, PPLUS will be growing further.

Researchers in the Laboratory for Solid State Physics at ETH Zurich found evidence that bilayer graphene quantum dots may host a promising new type of quantum bit based on so-called valley states.

At the beginning of 2024, the Institute for Theoretical Physics will welcome Professors Juan Felipe Carrasquilla Álvarez and Nicolò Defenu.

We spoke with Jonathan Home, our current Head of the Department, on becoming a Fellow of the American Physical Society (APS) and about his career, motivations and goals.

A new study points to potentially unacknowledged biases that affect grants awarded by the European Research Council.

With the help of the James Webb Space Telescope, a team of researchers including members from the Institute for Particle Physics and Astrophysics at ETH Zurich measured ammonia in the atmosphere of a cold brown dwarf, showing that the isotopic abundance of ammonia can be used to study how giant gas planets form.

Using a random walk generated by modulating a ring quantum cascade laser, researchers from the Institute for Quantum Electronics at ETH Zurich have realised a new type of frequency comb.

Researchers from the Institute for Theoretical Physics used a more general formulation of quantum mechanics to study a breakdown of adiabaticity.

The two researchers, who are members of the Institute for Quantum Electronics, were both awarded SNSF Starting Grants.

Physicists Andreas Eggenberger and Marius Simon demonstrated some exciting experiments during this year's Long Night of the Zurich Museums at focusTerra: they debunked the colour of gold, created a rainbow in the middle of the night and let a green laser beam take a balloon to its breaking point.

An ambitious space mission could open the way to a better understanding of our heliosphere and of cosmic dust.

Per Moosavi, a postdoctoral researcher in the Institute for Theoretical Physics at ETH Zurich, talks about what makes a good scientific workshop and what it takes to bring together different research communities.

In a feat of optical waveguide engineering, researchers from the Institute for Quantum Electronics at ETH Zurich have successfully observed terahertz solitons in a ring quantum cascade laser.

Thanks to a collaboration between the Department of Physics at ETH Zurich and Technorama, visitors to the Science Centre can see with their naked eye very small objects that behave according to the unfamiliar laws of quantum mechanics – single atoms.

Absorption of light adds energy to a material. The electrons inside the material can react collectively or independently to that energy. Here, the dominant reaction pattern should not depend on perspective. However, in compound semiconductors, surprisingly, divergent responses are obtained depending on which atomic constituent is consulted. Knowledge of both perspectives is necessary to optimize new materials for applications in electronics and optoelectronics.

EPFL researchers have collaborated with colleagues at ETH Zurich and Harvard University on a new thin-film circuit which, when connected to a laser beam, produces finely tailorable terahertz-frequency waves. The device opens up a world of potential applications in optics and telecommunications.

Traffic obstructions are not only a nuisance for our everyday mobility; they can also have negative consequences for the smallest particles such as electrons. If physicists want to study very fast dynamics in matter using soft X-rays, a clear path for electrons is required.

In 2022, the Swiss team won the World Physics Championship, the International Young Physicists' Tournament (IYPT). Singapore and Poland came second and third.

The Swiss National Science Foundation's SNSF professorships are intended for highly qualified young researchers who aspire to a permanent professorship. Over  six years, quantum researcher Oded Zilberberg conducted his research project as an assistant professor at the Department of Physics at ETH Zurich under this SNSF funding scheme.

An international team of researchers with participation of the National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) PlanetS, ETH Zurich and the University of Zurich has succeeded in capturing an image of a very special planet. No known planet orbits a hotter or more massive star system. Some astronomers even considered it impossible for planets to exist in such an environment.

In 2021, ESA selected three themes from a hundred proposals for its largest science missions, “Voyage 2050”. The National Centre of Competence in Research, or NCCR, “PlanetS” with its partner institutions ETH Zurich and the University of Zurich proposed two of the three chosen topics. The NCCR “PlanetS” is led by the two home institutions, the University of Bern and the University of Geneva.

The “Nationale Zukunftstag” on 11 November is an important event at ETH Zurich. It offers many children the opportunity to get to know ETH Zurich from the inside. 17 different programmes were offered by various ETH units, some of which would have probably been of interest to adults, too.

14 April 2021 is World Quantum Day! On the occasion of the launch of this initiative, the Quantum Center, ETH Zurich invites you, your family and friends to an online interview with Professors Yiwen Chu and Renato Renner, moderated by doctoral student Chiara Decaroli.

ETH professor Renato Renner is one of the world’s leading theoreticians in quantum information science. He talks about the latest developments. Renato Renner’s group focuses on the question of how the processing and transmission of information relates to physical laws.

Yiwen Chu researches new ways of connecting quantum technologies, with the aim of creating a quantum telecommunications network for the exchange and storage of quantum information.