Dr. Maximilian Beyer has been awarded for his project titled 'Quantum for pressure - measuring atomic polarizabilities with molecular ions for a quantum pressure gauge (QPOL)' which aims to develop a novel method to determine the static polarizability of rare gas atoms spectroscopically. The polarizability quantifies the extent to which the electron cloud around an atom can be deformed under the influence of an electric field. Suppose the polarizability of an atom is known. In that case, the gas density or pressure can be measured by monitoring the change of the dielectric constant of a capacitor filled with the respective gas. Researchers are working on such a new quantum pressure standard to replace mercury manometers and piston gauges for sensing pressure. An ideal choice for the gas is helium, it's the simplest rare gas and is very inert and easy to use in technical applications. His new method to obtain the most accurate polarizability of helium relies on using ultracold helium molecules. Forming a molecule and measuring atomic properties inside the molecule makes this experiment feasible, even though atomic helium is hard to manipulate with lasers. By shining laser radiation on the molecules, they will remove an electron, resulting in positively charged helium dimer molecules - made out of one neutral and one positively charged helium atom. The molecule can be imagined as two balls connected by a spring and measuring the vibrational frequencies will allow us to extract the dipole polarizability of the helium atom.
Dr. Laura Dreissen has been awarded for her project titled 'Silencing the Noise: entangled states in trapped ions for accurate quantum sensing and metrology' where she will use quantum entangled states in multiple Ba+ ions that are resistant to environmental noise, making them ideal for measurements with incredibly high accuracy. Ba+ is an ideal candidate for quantum metrology with entangled states because its energy structure allows for long preservation of the quantum states. Therefore, she can investigate the ions for long periods of time and reach particularly high measurement accuracies. The technology used for this experiment is based on fast oscillating electric fields to trap the ions and advanced laser cooling techniques to make the ions nearly stand still, enabling precise manipulation of their quantum state. With this sensitive quantum sensor, she will explore exciting new possibilities in the field of timekeeping and magnetic field sensing.