The group of Prof. Schuck has an opening for a PhD student! Please check out the Academic Posts section for this position at the Department for Quantum Technology!

Check out the October issue of wissen|leben, where the cleanroom lab course offered to physics master’s students is highlighted. The article provides a fascinating glimpse into the hands-on experience gained during the “Foundations of Nanofabrication” course, part of the teaching program of Prof. Schuck. Students work in the Münster Nanofabrication Facility (MNF), creating nanometer-scale materials like OLEDs in cleanroom conditions. The piece details how the lab course enhances students' understanding of nanotechnology and practical skills with advanced equipment. Text available in German only!

The research group Schuck is excited to join the MANTIS project, aiming to protect critical infrastructures such as gas pipelines from cyberattacks using quantum encryption. The project, led by Fraunhofer IOF and funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), will run until 2027.

For more details, see the University of Münster press release and the Fraunhofer IOF press release.

The Ministries of Culture and Science (MKW) and of Economic Affairs, Industry, Climate Action and Energy (MWIKE) have kicked off a Roadmapping process for developing Quantum Technologies in North Rhine-Westphalia, which will be lead by our colleagues from the Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology (ILT) and coordinated by the newly established office QT.NMWP.NRW. We are excited to contribute to the process!

Alejandro and Carsten present work on integrating SNSPDs with subwavelength grating structures and photonic integrated circuits at Photonics West and Quantum West in San Francisco. Check out their contributions 12890-16 and 12911-7!

Congratulations to Adrian and Paul (now with Prof. Heusler) on winning the Teaching Award of the Working Group Undergraduate Physics Laboratory (Arbeitsgruppe Physikalische Praktika, AGPP) of the German Physical Society (DPG) together with our colleagues at the Institute of Physics Education, the Institute of Physics and the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences for our joint work on the MiReQu-Project, allowing students to experience entanglement and it's use in quantum key distribution through augmented reality environments.

Check out the November edition of the Physik Journal with a focal section on quantum computing. Among very nice contributions from Jens Eisert, Frank Wilhelm-Mauch, and an interview with Heike Riel,  Emma Lomonte from Xanadu, Wolfram Pernice from Heidelberg University and Carsten Schuck write about photonic quantum computing (German only, registration required).

On November 1st we kick-off the QuGrids-Project with our partners at the Forschungszentrum Jülich (FZJ), the RWTH Aachen and the Fraunhofer FIT. The project aims to establish a profile in using quantum technologies for designing, optimizing and securing energy grids for a more sustainable future. We were happy to receive generous funding from Minister Ina Brandes at the Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia.

Our joint work with the AG Risse and the AG Ravoo on using Azobenzene-based Photo-Chemical Activation Functions in Optical Artificial Neural Networks is now published in Advanced Intelligent Systems! We use a physically motivated model and obtain a tuneable yet interpretable activiation function that enables solving classification tasks such as XOR, Circle, MNIST and FashionMNIST with a neural network. This is an important stepping stone for understanding Intelligent Matter.

The European Quantum Technology Community meets at EQTC in Hannover to discuss progress, perspectives and transfer of research and recent developments in the field. Alejandro and Carsten will present work in our European projects ESSENS and SURQUID.

The Münster Nanofabrication Facility will host an Open Day on October 19th and showcase its capabilities at the Center for Soft Nanoscience. Register for an interactive program addressing experienced users as well as newbies and everyone who is curious about what the MNF is and how it could elevate your research or development projects to the next level.

Very interesting visit to Andrea Benigni's group at the Forschungszentrum Jülich (FZJ) to discuss how Energy Systems Engineering could benefit from Quantum Technologie.