Annika Kurzmann appointed ML4Q Professor at the University of Cologne

Annika Kurzmann was appointed by the University of Cologne to start her ML4Q professorship as of August 1st. She will join the Institute of Physics II and will focus in her research on Van-der-Waals heterostructures as building blocks for quantum bits in quantum networks.

Annika joined the cluster in 2021 when she successfully acquired a Junior Principal Investigator Fellowship of RWTH Aachen University which was hosted by the Stampfer group. As a postdoc in Klaus Ensslin’s group at ETH Zurich, Annika acquired expertise in quantum transport measurements that provide the basis for the fabrication and characterization of nanodevices based on 2D materials. In addition, she also masters high-resolution optical spectroscopy techniques, which have been key ingredients of her PhD work on self-assembled quantum dots in the group of Axel Lorke at the University of Duisburg-Essen. Annika started her independent research in Aachen in January 2021 where she investigated the potential of single photon emitters and quantum dots in 2D materials for applications in quantum information processing.

In 2022, she received the ML4Q Young Investigator Award. This grant honors early-career researchers for key contributions to ML4Q, in particular, for achievements or endeavors that require the collaboration between different sites. Three pairs were selected to strengthen the collaborations between the sites and Annika’s award partner is ML4Q member Andrea Bergschneider (Bonn) with whom she is collaborating on coupling of quantum emitters in 2D materials via a cavity.

Annika is a passionate physics ambassador to school students and her engagement in outreach activities by the cluster had impact on many physics students and school students in the past few years. She joined the Quanteen Day in 2022, the Girls’ Day in 2022 and 2023 as well as the ML4Q&A podcast. This October, she will join the Maus-Türöffnertag – an open day for families and children to visit the Cologne Physics institutes – by holding a lecture on the exciting world of 2D material science.

As to her start in Cologne and expected future research challenges, Annika said “I am looking forward to building up my labs and group in Cologne and continuing the fruitful collaboration within ML4Q. 2D materials offer a wealth of interesting properties for the optical coupling of qubits, and ML4Q provides a great environment to explore these properties.”

A very warm welcome to Annika and to many years of exciting collaborations!

More about Annika’s research journey