The MCQST Colloquium Series features interdisciplinary talks given by visiting international speakers. The monthly colloquium covers topics spanning all MCQST research units and will be broadcast live via Zoom for audiences worldwide. The main goal of the series is to create the framework for idea exchange, to strengthen links with QST leading groups worldwide, as well as to act as an integral part of the local educational environment.

MCQST Colloquium: Markus Aspelmeyer – Distinguished Lecturer

We are excited to invite you to the colloquium talk by this year's Distinguished Lecturer Markus Aspelmeyer (University of Vienna, Austria).

Agenda

14:00 | Teaser talk by Korbinian Rubenbauer of WMI on "Self-Sustained Oscillations of a Non-Linear Optomechanical System in the Low-Excitation Regime"

14:15 | Coffee break

14:30 | Colloquium talk by Markus Aspelmeyer on “How does a quantum object gravitate?”

How does a quantum object gravitate?

No experiment today provides evidence that gravity requires a quantum description. The growing ability to achieve quantum optical control over massive solid-state objects may change that situation -- by enabling experiments that directly probe the phenomenology of quantum states of gravitational source masses. This can lead to experimental outcomes that are inconsistent with the predictions of a purely classical field theory of gravity. Such “quantum Cavendish” experiments require to explore extreme regimes of both quantum and gravity phenomena, specifically: delocalized motional quantum states of sufficiently massive objects, as well as gravity experiments on the microscopic scale. Extending quantum optomechanics methods to trapped solids offers a unique approach for pushing into these ambitious parameter regimes. I review the current status in the lab and the challenges to be overcome for future experiments.

About Markus Aspelmeyer

Markus Aspelmeyer is Professor of Physics at the University of Vienna and Scientific Director at the Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information (IQOQI) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna. He studied physics and philosophy in Munich, Germany. After a PhD in solid state physics from LMU Munich he switched fields to quantum optics. By combining these two backgrounds he became one of the early pioneers of the field of quantum optomechanics. Aspelmeyer is a Fellow of the American Physical Society, and Member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences and the Academy of Sciences and Humanities in Hamburg. His current research is focused on the intriguing puzzles around quantum physics and gravity.

Join in-person or via Zoom

Meeting-ID: 6555 7969 265, Passcode: mcqst2025