My interests mainly concern the nature of complex quantum systems, particularly lattices of quantum mechanical particles. As of October 2018 I joined the team of Stefan Kuhr in Glasgow where we work with quantum gas microscopes. In 2023, we developed dynamic and local control over the lattice potentials and are using this to study how the changes in geometry and the presence of disorder effect the properties of the atomic gas. This experimental work is supported by the ongoing collaboration with the theory team of Prof. Andrew Daley (Strathclyde/Oxford). In a collaboration with Elmar Haller’s team at Strathclyde we have studied Floquet dynamics in a 1D geometry using a Caesium Bose-Einstein Condensate that resulted in three papers in the last two years. I often use my background in condensed matter theory and nanofabrication as we interact with physicists working on other quantum technologies. In the coming years I aim to extend our quantum simulation experiments to more complex lattice geometries and to study transport properties using single atoms.

As a postdoc in Paris I worked on an experiment where we create 1D strongly interacting systems of ultracold atoms that we study and control. We routinely trap 10-2000 atoms in a lattice inside a fiber cavity that facilitates very strong interactions between the atoms. Currently the team is working on a single atom microscope through which we hope to image and control the atoms.

In my PhD research I developed and build a new atomic physics experiment. The goal was to use magnetic potentials shaped by e-beam lithography at the Kavli cleanroom in Delft to trap ultracold neutral atoms in magnetic potential lattices of 200nm. I find both the quantum simulation as well as the quantum information applications of the experiments that we do fascinating. Technically I have acquired skills in both solid state nanotechnology and atomic physics that I also hope to use in future experiments. In the coming years I hope to contribute to a large quantum simulation team where I want to continue studying atomic lattices with tailored potentials.

I believe that the best way to gain deeper insight in condensed matter physics is to do quantum simulation with low dimensional systems where we can control completely the inter-atomic interactions, disorder and doping.

Only by staying close to the systems that we want to understand can we hope to solve them.