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.

Apprentices from four different professional careers paths within the vocational training programme managed by the Department of Physics had to work in teams to build an interactive exhibition item in the Physics4mation pilot project. They learned how to collaborate with colleagues, carry out interdisciplinary work and handle failure. The Physics4mation project will now be part of the vocational training programme in the physics department.

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.

Researchers studied how quantum many-body scars, states that resist thermalisation, could be probed experimentally in a variety of systems and thus harnessed for quantum information processing applications.

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

Klaus Ensslin received a Golden Owl award for his teaching activities in the Department of Physics. Every year, the ETH Zurich Student Association (VSETH) honours lecturers whose excellent teaching stands out with this award.

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.

Luigi Marchese, a researcher in the Institute for Particle Physics and Astrophysics, talks about his outreach work with the publisher of an iconic Italian comic series.

On 2 and 3 September up to 30,000 visitors sought answers to the question: what holds the world together?

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.

Researchers at ETH have put a crystal into a quantum superposition state and measured for how long quantum effects in the vibrations of the crystal lasted. Such measurements are important for putting bounds on possible modifications of quantum theory that could explain why we do not see quantum features in everyday life.

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

Researchers of the ETH Zurich and the National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) PlanetS have closely analysed the characteristics of cosmic dust based on laboratory experiments and measurement data collected by space missions. Their results reveal fundamental gaps in the knowledge about this material that is vital for our understanding of galaxies and planetary systems.

Letting your curiosity run free, asking a thousand questions and learning something new. On 17 June 2022, the Department of Physics at ETH Zurich welcomed several thousand guests at the summer festival of science on the Hönggerberg campus, the Night of Physics 2022.

Women scientists in photon science talk about their research and the impact their work has on the field. From the perspective of early career to established researchers, they also talk about necessary skills, career steps, and role models. They are members of the Swiss Society for Photon Science, an academic society that represents and supports scientists active in the many different fields of photon science.

ETH Zurich is a magnet for talented people from all over the world. It also thrives to attract the greatest talents for its Master’s programme. Five outstanding students started their Master's in Physics in September 2021 with a ETH Excellence Scholarship. This support enables them to concentrate fully on their studies – or to study at ETH Zurich at all.

Quantum computers and quantum mechanics are currently the focus of intensive research, including at ETH Zurich, and are also increasingly becoming topics in the media. In this domain, researchers work with the tiniest of particles daily, with a particular emphasis on experimentally realizing a new era of information technologies with capabilities beyond those available to us today. But how can this world of quantum physics be experienced outside the laboratory?

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.

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.

The ETH Board has confirmed Prof. Dr. Günther Dissertori to be the new Rector. He will we take over the duties of Prof. Dr. Sarah M. Springman, who has served in this role since 2015.

At this year's first-year students event the Departments of Mathematics and Physics welcomed their new students of the degree programmes Mathematics, Physics and Computational Science and Engineering (RW/CSE).