The Industrie-Club Science Award for Julian Schmitt’s Contributions to Quantum Gas Research
From left to right: Ina Brandes (NRW Minister for Culture and Science), Dr. Julian Schmitt (University of Bonn), Dirk Grolman (Chairperson of the Industrie-Club’s Executive Board) and Prof. Dr. Gerd Heusch (NRW Academy of Sciences).
© Photo: Industrie-Club e. V. Düsseldorf
The Industrie-Club Düsseldorf’s Science Award for 2024 recognizes the outstanding research of Julian Schmitt in the field of optical quantum gases. The award, aimed at young scientists (under 40 years of age) in North Rhine-Westphalia, is endowed with EUR 20,000.
Schmitt, a young investigator in the ML4Q Cluster of Excellence based at the Institute of Applied Physics at the University of Bonn, leads a research group focused on quantum fluids of light. His junior group investigates emergent phenomena such as superfluidity and turbulence in quantum fluids, realized by trapping photons in microscopic optical cavities. This platform enables the exploration of fundamental questions in topological physics and quantum communication.
“Receiving the Science Award is a great acknowledgment of the basic research I’ve been conducting in physics and how it might contribute to innovative applications in industry,” Schmitt said in a press release issued by the University of Bonn.
In addition to advancing the fundamental understanding of novel states of matter, Schmitt’s findings have potential applications in photonics, including sensor systems and laser beam shaping.
This annual Science Award, sponsored by Industrie-Club e. V. Düsseldorf in cooperation with the North Rhine-Westphalian Academy of Sciences, is dedicated to promoting innovative scientific research with potential applications in industrial manufacturing or the optimization of production processes.
More from Julian Schmitt
Irreversible splitting of light
In a combined effort of the research groups of Martin Weitz and Achim Rosch within Focus Area 4, new findings were published in Science. Kurtscheid et al. introduce a method of irreversibly, but coherently, populating a split state with photons by thermalizing the...