Three ERC Consolidator Grants for ETH physicists
- Laboratory for Solid State Physics (LFKP)
- Research awards
- Institute for Quantum Electronics (IQE)
- Particle Physics (IPA)
ETH researchers had excellent results in the issuing of ERC grants: they were awarded 10 Consolidator Grants in the amount of 24 million Swiss francs for their research. Among the grantees are the three physicists Paolo Crivelli, Christian Degen and Jonathan Home.
Researchers from ETH Zurich have never before been able to win so many ERC Consolidator Grants in one round as they managed to this time. The high success rate is also impressive: Of a total of 18 entries, two thirds advanced to the second round. And of these, 11 earned the highest rating, an “A” score (61.1%), and 10 were ultimately approved. This corresponds to a 55.5 percent success rate. The average success rate for Consolidator Grants had previously been just under 38 percent.
Each of these grants is endowed with 2.4 million francs (2 million euros) on average, so ETH Zurich can expect to receive about 24 million francs in ERC funding from this round. The funds go to researchers in the fields of chemistry, computer science, mathematics, mechanical and process engineering, electrical engineering and quantum and particle physics.
The three physics projects at a glance:
One of main research areas of Paolo Crivelli, Head of the Laboratory for Positron and Positronium Physics, is the physics of exotic atoms, which consist entirely of antimatter such as antihydrogen or positronium (electron-positron) and muonium (electron-antimuon). These systems allow testing the standard model of particle physics in a complementary way to high-energy experiments. An exact comparison of the matter-antimatter systems could explain the asymmetry observed in our universe. The aim of Crivelli's ERC project is to explore the nature of muons and muoniums with unprecedented accuracy. This could provide the key to answering fundamental questions such as why matter dominates the universe. The experiment will be conducted at the world's strongest continuous muon source, at the Paul Scherrer Institute.
Electrical currents and resistances are usually detected by measuring the voltage drop between two contacts. These measurements, however, cannot reveal the spatial paths currents take when making their way through a conducting material. Physics professor Christian Degen would like to develop a new technique for observing and imaging currents at the nanoscale. His proposal is based on scanning diamond magnetometry, a method pioneered in his lab. The new microscopy technique may find applications in solid-state physics, materials science and electrical engineering, like for exploring novel two-dimensional materials.
Professor Jonathan Home will explore in his grant a new method for scaling ion trap quantum computing and simulation based on arrays of individual charged atoms in an array of micro-fabricated Penning traps. Penning traps combine electro-statics with a homogeneous magnetic field to confine charged atoms, which offers an alternative paradigm to current methods based on radio-frequency confinement which are used in the leading quantum computing experiments today. The project should thus allow simplified scaling into two-dimensions, providing the possibility to trap higher densities of ions, as well as realise new connectivities for quantum simulations of lattice systems.