Center for Ultracold Atoms and Quantum Gases, IExP and IQOQI, Innsbruck
Sarah Embacher 
We are happy to share that Francesca is selected to be part of the “Quantum 100” for UNESCO’s International Year of Quantum Science and Technology!
💡 It’s exciting to see how the Quantum 100 provides a snapshot of the diverse community in quantum science — with career paths spanning academia, industry, education, art, culture, journalism, and policy.
Read Francesca’s story here!
A warm welcome to Eder Vera-Guzman!
Eder completed his bachelor studies at Yachay Tech University, San Miguel de Urcuquí, Ecuador. FOr his Master studies, he was awarded with a full scholarship to the Erasmus Mundus Joint Master QUARMEN, where he spent one semester at Rome studying physics. He completed his master’s thesis at Thales Research & Technology on laser architectures for the control of quantum systems right across Institut d’Optique Graduate School where he also received lectures.
Eder is joining our group for a collaborative PhD stay for the construction of the new Dysprosium lab in Donostia, San Sebastian.
Check out our latest paper on arxiv!
Through a combined effort between the Erbium Lab, Prof. Nirav Mehta from Trinity University and Prof. Seth Rittenhouse from the United States Naval Academy, our new preprint demonstrates the first observation of Fano profiles in scattering resonances of ultracold atoms. We show that these features arise from destructive interference between multiple scattering pathways, which we theoretically capture using a simplified multichannel model. Our work opens the door to detailed investigations of multispin, strongly coupled scattering phenomena.
Fantastic news: Francesca Ferlaino, is Austria’s Scientist of the Year 2025!
This prestigious award, granted by the Austrian Association of Science and Education Journalists, honours Francesca’s outstanding scientific achievements and her exceptional commitment to science communication. It acknowledges her dedication to making complex quantum phenomena accessible to a general audience, as well as emphasizing the importance of fundamental research for society.
Read more here.
We say goodbye to to Ester Carranza Botey, who was joining our group here in Innsbruck as a guest for seven months. We wish you all the best for your future!
The Austrian Science Fund (FWF) has approved a new special research area on quantum systems of neutral atoms. We are excited to announce that our group will be part of the project, together with the groups led by Hannes Bernien and Hannes Pichler from Innsbruck, and many more national and international collaborators.
The FWF will provide funding of approximately €4 million over a period of four years. The goal of the collaborative research network “Highly Connected Quantum Systems of Neutral Atoms” is to achieve a high degree of networking and quantum mechanical entanglement of many particles, even those that are far apart. With the realization and investigation of quantum systems that are now becoming experimentally accessible for the first time, the planned cooperation promises not only a deeper understanding of novel states of matter, but also practical breakthroughs in the field of quantum technology.