Benjamin Brecht

Physicist

Quantum physics opens a window to a miraculous world, where extraordinary things happen that cannot be explained by our everyday experience. Things like quantum teleportation sound like science fiction, but they are being realised today in quantum laboratories. If we can harness these exciting phenomena, we can build new technologies that outperform their existing, classical counterparts. This vision of the future fascinates me and makes we want to add my small contribution to the pool of outstanding ideas.

I first got in touch with the research field of quantum optics – the study of single light particles, so-called photons – during my studies at the University of Erlangen, Germany, where I joined Prof Christine Silberhorn’s group. After my diploma, the group moved with to the University Paderborn, Germany, where I did my PhD. Quantum optics has kept me fascinated since and I’ve been working on controlling the colours of single photons and utilising them for quantum technologies with nonlinear optics and atoms.

After three exciting years of working with quantum memories at the University of Oxford, I have moved back to my old group at Paderborn University, where I will continue the research on quantum rainbows.