We welcome Tatiana Zanetti and Anna Pupi who are joining our group as administrative assistants!
Sarah Embacher
Welcome to Mikhail!
We welcome Mikhail Iaushev to our group! Mikhail earned both his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology. During his studies, he began working in the Tm Optical Clock Group, led by Prof. Nikolay Kolachevsky at the P.N. Lebedev Physical Institute. For his Master’s thesis, Mikhail transitioned to a new project, building an experiment for quantum simulation using a tweezer array of Yb atoms. In September 2025, Mikhail joined T-REQS team as a PhD student.
Welcome to Damiano!
We welcome Damiano Alessandroni to our group! Damiano completed his Bachelor’s Degree in Physics in 2023 at Roma Tre University, and he is currently enrolled at the same university for his Master’s Degree in Theoretical Physics. During the TIQIT 2024 event, he was introduced to the research field of ultracold atoms. Now, he started working in our theory team for his master’s thesis.
Welcome to Héctor and Marc!
We welcome two new members to our theory team!
Héctor Briongos is a visiting PhD student, staying from September 8 to December 6, and Marc Camus is starting his PhD in our group.
Héctor completed his bachelor studies in physics at the University of Valladolid and his master studies in quantum science and technology at the University of Barcelona. For his master thesis, he collaborated with Dr. Jose Ramón Martinez Saavedra at Quside Technologies. In January 2024, he started his PhD at the University of Barcelona, supervised by Montserrat Guilleumas and Bruno Juliá-Díaz.
Marc completed his bachelor and master studies in physics at the University of Barcelona. His master’s thesis, supervised by Bruno Juliá-Díaz, focused on a system of spin-polarized fermions in a one-dimensional harmonic trap interacting via p-wave scattering. After graduating in July 2025, he joins our theory team in September 2025 as a PhD student.
Topology meets superconductivity in a one-dimensional t-J model of magnetic atoms
We have published a new paper by our theory + erbium team on arxiv!
In this work, we leverage the special properties of ultracold magnetic lanthanide atoms trapped in optical lattices, to create a highly controllable version of the iconic t-J model, a cornerstone of quantum many-body physics. We uncover a wide range of exotic phases, including superconducting, topological, and—most strikingly—topological superconducting states. The latter presents several aspects of novelty. The most intriguing one is that differently from the paradigmatic example of one-dimensional topological superconductivity appearing in the celebrated Kitaev chain, this phase is purely induced by competing interactions. We also outline how these phases can be realized and detected with current experimental tools, opening a powerful new route for a deeper understanding of strongly interacting fermionic quantum matter.
Elena defends her PhD!
Today, Elena Poli from our Theory team successfully defended her PhD thesis, titled “Unveiling the Superfluid and Solid Behaviour in Dipolar Supersolids”!
Elena began her PhD journey in 2019, she was the first member of our Theory team, together with our postdoc at the time, Tom Bland. She played a major role when our group experimentally observed a dipolar supersolid in 2D and extended this work by studying rotating supersolids in 2D, in close collaboration with the Er-Dy lab. She also spent a research stay abroad in New Zealand, joining the group of Prof. Blair Blakie. Most recently, she explored a possible application of her research to glitches in rotating neutron stars.
In total, Elena achieved an impressive list of 10 publications during her PhD.
Beyond her scientific contributions, we thank Elena for organizing barbecues in a wonderfully responsible way, for sharing her excellent taste in music and TV shows, and for carrying our team through long sports nights with her marvelous volleyball skills.
Thank you, Elena — and we wish you all the very best for the future!
