About the group

Cavity-Optomechanics provides a unique approach to Stochastic and Quantum Thermodynamics at the single- and few particle level. The thermodynamic perspective on overdamped mechanical systems has been successfully and much more extensively studied than on well-isolated mechanics. We experimentally investigate such underdamped mechanical systems. Amongst others, this provides a natural first step towards the quantum regime. Our focus lies on the application of levitated optomechanics, where all-optical control of the potential landscape seen by a single or few nanoparticles and reservoir engineering of their optical environment are possible. This will provide a general testbed for proof-of-principle implementations to experimentally adress questions at the interface of thermodynamics, information theory and quantum physics.

The experimental group on Far-from-equilibrium Quantum Systems is led by Assoc.-Prof. Dr. Nikolai Kiesel at the Faculty of Physics, University of Vienna. We currently focus on Stochastic and Quantum Thermodynamics with levitated nanospheres and dynamics in nonlinear potentials.

For financial support of our research we acknowledge the FWF (START Y 952-N36), the ESQ, and the European Union via Quant-ERA projects QuaSeRT and TheBlinQC, the FET-Open project IQLev, and a Marie-Curie Postdoctorial fellowship.


Latest News

03.04.2024
 

We demonstrate a new loading method that provides clean delivery and deterministic positioning of nanoparticles from atmospheric pressure into an...

16.01.2024
 

We introduce an experimental method to generate center-of-mass superposition states at previously unattainable mass-, length- and time scales using...

13.04.2023
 

Prof. Nikolai Kiesel and Dr. Mario A. Ciampini join forces to tell a twisting tale of trying to make sense of thermodynamics in a world filled with...

13.04.2023
 

For her ambitious project of levitating a nanoparticle in an inverted potential via optimal feedback (FLIP (Feedback levitation on an Inverted...

30.03.2023
 

Working together with researchers at Queen's University Belfast we investigated the transfer of states from a quantum thermodynamical perspective.

04.03.2023
 

Backed by the ESQ Discovery Grant, Dr. Mario Ciampini aims to explore the thermodynamic limits of memory performance using levitated nanobeads.