Otto Schmidt
Nationality: German
Host: University of Trento
| Background: Before Otto studied physics, he completed a BSc in mathematical economics at the University of Mannheim. After that he went to ETH Zürich to study physics for my BSc with a strong focus on quantum physics. His research background is in Quantum Information Theory, Correlated Systems and Quantum Many-Body Theory. My MSc I did at ETH and Imperial College. His master thesis he conducted at the Photonic Quantum Information Group at Imperial College. He did theoretical and experimental studies of a specific Quantum Memory platform, the ORCA. The thesis mostly included topics from atomic and quantum optics. |
| Master thesis: DRAGON: Advancing ORCA quantum memories Abstract: ORCA (Off Resonant Cascaded Absorption) quantum memories allow for on-demand storage and retrieval of high-bandwidth photons without introducing noise, and therefore are a key component for building scalable quantum networks. However, the ORCA memory has a very short maximum storage time which significantly limits its current applications. Here we explore a scheme that utilises Doppler dephasing as a resource for a ground state mapping: the stored atomic coherence between a ground state and a doubly excited state is mapped to a coherence between the two ground states of the 87Rb D2 line. This mapping technique is coined DRAGON (Dephased RApid GrOuNd state mapping) and allows for high mapping efficiency and low laser field intensity requirements.The thesis included theoretical and numerical investigations, as well as experimental implementation. |
| Research interests: He is fascinated with correlated behavior and collective phenomena. This is why he is mostly interested in Quantum Many-Body Theory. In correlated systems it is especially interesting to investigate many-body entanglement and learn from this. As these systems are highly complex and hard to simulate without approximations, it is interesting to approach a description of these systems with new mathematical tools. |
| PhD Goals: For low dimensional systems the use of tensor networks (TN) gives not only the best numerical results, but it also allows for a better understanding of e.g. many-body entanglement in systems. He hopes that in the DC10: Geometry of tensor network varieties for quantum condensed matter physics he can gain a better understanding of quantum many-body physics by using topological tools and concepts from quantum information theory. With the use of TN he hopes to not only gain insights to physical dynamics, but also learn about this ubiquitous technique and its possible applications in other domains of physics and science. |
| Hobby: Besides physics, he is a passionate runner and love nature. He loves to read all kinds of books and to explore new topics. He is a piphilologist. |
