Christine Silberhorn

Last updated

Christine Silberhorn
Born19 April 1974
CitizenshipGermany
Alma mater Erlangen University
Scientific career
Fields Experimental physics, quantum optics
Institutions Paderborn University
Website Paderborn University

Christine Silberhorn (born 19 April 1974) is a German physicist specialising in quantum optics and a full professor at the Paderborn University. In 2011, Silberhorn was awarded the Leibniz Prize and was the youngest recipient of the 2.5 million Euro prize at that time. [1]

Contents

Education

Born in Nürnberg, Germany, Silberhorn studied mathematics and physics at Erlangen University (1993–1999) and completed her Ph.D. in 2003, with a dissertation in quantum information science. She did postdoctoral work at Clarendon Laboratory of Oxford University and was a Junior Research Fellow of Wolfson College in Oxford in 2003–2004. [2] In 2005 she joined the Max Planck Research Group "Optics, Information and Photonics" (now the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light) as the head of the junior research group "integrated quantum optics".

Career

In 2005, Silberhorn joined the Erlangen branch of the Max Planck Institute for Quantum Optics Garching, heading the Junior Research Group Integrated Quantum Optics until 2008. Upon foundation of the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light Erlangen, she headed the Integrated Quantum Optics Group until 2010, completing her habilitation in 2008. Silberhorn is currently Chair for Integrated Quantum Optics at Paderborn University. [3]

Research

Silberhorn's research is dedicated to novel optical technologies based on quantum optics, and light-based quantum systems for use in quantum communication and quantum information processing. [4]

She has contributed to the development of engineered quantum light sources using integrated optics and ultrafast pulsed lasers, the implementation of multichannel quantum networks for photon counting and quantum simulations, and the realization of quantum communication systems with bright light.

Silberhorn is best known for her role in leading a research project which developed photon translators for use in quantum computing and quantum communication. [5] In 2016, the team that she ran jointly with professor Thomas Zentgraf was awarded the largest European Research Council grant for their research. [6] In 2019, Silberhorn's team demonstrated the Hong-Ou-Mandel experiment on a single integrated photonic chip by creating, bunching and detecting two individual photons and integrating components of quantum photonics on a single chip. [7] [8]

Awards

Silberhorn's research on the quantum properties of light and the development of quantum devices has received worldwide recognition and numerous awards, including the Herta Sponer Prize [9] of the German Physical Society and the Medal of the Werner von Siemens Ring Foundation in 2007, [10] the Heinz Maier-Leibnitz-Preis in 2008 and the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz-Prize in 2011. [1] For the latter, she was the youngest scientist to receive this award. [11] In 2019, Silberhorn was named a Fellow of The Optical Society. [12]

She has been a member of Leopoldina, the national academy of Germany, since 2012. [13]

Related Research Articles

A photon is an elementary particle that is a quantum of the electromagnetic field, including electromagnetic radiation such as light and radio waves, and the force carrier for the electromagnetic force. Photons are massless, so they always move at the speed of light in vacuum when they are in vacuum. The photon belongs to the class of boson particles.

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Quantum optics is a branch of atomic, molecular, and optical physics dealing with how individual quanta of light, known as photons, interact with atoms and molecules. It includes the study of the particle-like properties of photons. Photons have been used to test many of the counter-intuitive predictions of quantum mechanics, such as entanglement and teleportation, and are a useful resource for quantum information processing.

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References

  1. 1 2 "Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft". Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize Laudatio. Retrieved 14 March 2019.
  2. ↑ "Curriculum Vitae Prof. Dr. Christine Silberhorn" (PDF). www.leopoldina.org. Retrieved 10 May 2020.
  3. ↑ "University web site of Silberhorn group" . Retrieved 14 March 2019.
  4. ↑ "Forschergruppe der Uni Paderborn entwickelt neuen Ansatz für die Quantenkommunikation". idw-online.de. Retrieved 13 May 2019.
  5. ↑ Chen, Sophia (15 November 2019). "Quantum computers can talk to each other via a photon translator". New Scientist.
  6. ↑ "Millionen-Förderung für Physiker der Uni Paderborn". Neue Westfälische (in German). 17 December 2016. Retrieved 13 May 2019.
  7. ↑ VMS (17 January 2019). "Neuartiger Schaltkreis für die Quantenphotonik entwickelt". OWL Journal (in German). Retrieved 13 May 2019.
  8. ↑ Luo, Kai-Hong; Brauner, Sebastian; Eigner, Christof; Sharapova, Polina R.; Ricken, Raimund; Meier, Torsten; Herrmann, Harald; Silberhorn, Christine (1 January 2019). "Nonlinear integrated quantum electro-optic circuits". Science Advances. 5 (1): eaat1451. arXiv: 1810.13173 . Bibcode:2019SciA....5.1451L. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.aat1451 . ISSN   2375-2548. PMC   6314874 . PMID   30613766.
  9. ↑ "Herta Sponer Prize Awardees" (in German). Retrieved 14 March 2019.
  10. ↑ "Werner von Siemens Ring Foundation" (in German). 18 January 2016. Retrieved 14 March 2019.
  11. ↑ "Quantenphysikerin im Interview". Friedrich-Alexander Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg. 7 January 2011. Retrieved 13 May 2019.
  12. ↑ "The Optical Society Announces 2019 Fellows Class". The Optical Society. 18 October 2018. Retrieved 28 October 2020.
  13. ↑ "Leopoldina Membership Card". Leopoldina. Retrieved 14 March 2019.
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