FAU’s strategic development in Light and Matter and Quantum Technologies is based on interdisciplinary collaborations between the Faculties of Sciences and Engineering. The university has achieved international success in optics, quantum optics, condensed matter physics, and quantum technology through research institutions and collaborative initiatives. FAU is also a leading European university in electronics and hardware-oriented computer science.
The scientific structure is composed by a variety of existing and future projects, selected listed in the following.
Collaborative Research Initiatives
QuCoLiMa (Quantum Cooperativity of Light and Matter) is a Collaborative Research Centre Transregio (TRR 306) of the universities Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz (JGU), and Universität des Saarlandes, Saarbrücken (UdS).
It intends to explore the distinctive traits of quantum cooperativity within a large variety of quantum platforms at the intersection of quantum optics and condensed matter. It aims at understanding what is the interplay of quantum interference and entanglement in the collective response of many-body quantum systems interacting with light. It will explore in particular the role of the quantum properties of radiation in establishing and mediating quantum cooperative phenomena in a variety of complex matter systems, entering the regime of many-body physics of quantum cooperative light-matter.
The lighthouse project Quantum Measurement and Control for the Enablement of Quantum Computing and Quantum Sensing (QuMeCo) drives innovations in quantum computing, sensing and imaging. It integrates basic research in physics and electrical engineering in the field of light and matter.
The main goal of the project includes enhancing the capabilities in measurement and control of quantum systems, while sustaining their protection against environmental noise, by exploring new schemes of measurement and control. Thereby, QuMeCo strives to lay the foundations for the next generation of superconducting quantum computers.
The lighthouse project is part of the Munich Quantum Valley, an initiative aimed at promoting quantum sciences and quantum technologies in Bavaria that is funded by the Free State of Bavaria.
The lighthouse project QuKomIn aims to build a real test infrastructure for quantum communication to ensure safe communication in the future. The infrastructure is to be set up in the form of a hybrid fiber-optic network with satellite links and application laboratories in the Erlangen/Nuremberg and Munich/Oberpfaffenhofen areas.
The project is headed by the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light. They work together with researchers from the Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits (IIS), the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München.
The lighthouse project is part of the Munich Quantum Valley, an initiative aimed at promoting quantum sciences and quantum technologies in Bavaria that is funded by the Free State of Bavaria.
The QuNET initiative develops highly secure communication systems based on state-of-the-art quantum technology. As a research initiative funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research BMBF, QuNET creates the basis for secure and robust IT networks that are already armed today against the cyber attacks of tomorrow. The Fraunhofer and Max Planck Society as well as the German Aerospace Center are involved in the initiative.