Project Consortium

The NONGAUSS partners are complementary in their knowledge of modern experimental platforms and background in quantum theory. They also have sufficient overlap in scientific language and methodology which enables and stimulates synergy between their essential topics. All the involved partners are different in their infrastructure and organisation. Laboratoire Kastler-Brossel at SU Paris is a world-class basic-research laboratory with Nobel Prize winners in quantum physics. DTU is a world-class technical university with an extensive technological background, modern technological facilities, recently opened large quantum technology centre bigQ, and access to the applied research required for the future of quantum technology.

Danish Technical University (DTU) is one of the highest-ranked technical universities in Europe. DTU Physics focuses on research areas within modern physics with significant basic scientific challenges while also having a clear eye for applications. The Department research ranges from studies of materials at the atomic scale, quantum physics and biophysics to the storage and use of renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, and nuclear fusion. The research of the Quantum Physics and Information Technology Group (QPIT) is focused on the engineering of quantum systems of light and matter for applications in ultra-sensitive measurements and quantum information processing. The work is at the interface between quantum optics, nano- and microfabrication, nano-photonics, solid-state engineering and cryogenic technology. The new research centre bigQ – the Danish National Research Foundation Center for Macroscopic Quantum States, is a Center of Excellence located at the Department of Physics, Technical University of Denmark. It boasts around 30 researchers, PhD students and staff, headed by Professor Ulrik Lund Andersen. Initiated in January 2018, the objectives of bigQ are to control and detect macroscopic quantum states of optical and mechanical systems. In particular, the Center aims to hybridize three exciting and promising technological platforms, namely continuous variable non-classical light, mechanical oscillators and colour centres in diamond, fully compatible with the direction of NONGAUSS.

Sorbonne Université (SU) is a multidisciplinary and research-intensive university with world-famous origins. Sorbonne Université’s three faculties in humanities, medicine and science have the wide-ranging autonomy necessary to conduct its ambitious programs in both research and education. The Faculty of Science & Engineering, with its 18,000 students, covers many scientific disciplines divided into seven academic and research departments: Biology, Chemistry, Engineering, Mathematics, Physics, Earth Sciences, and Environment and Biodiversity. The Kastler Brossel Laboratory (LKB) at SU is one of the world leaders in the domain of quantum physics, covering a large number of subjects from fundamental tests to applications. Its research activities span various aspects, concepts and systems: ultra-cold quantum gases based on cold atoms or Bose-Einstein condensates, quantum optics and quantum information, atoms and light in dense or complex media, tests of fundamental interactions and metrology. It is headed by Professor Antoine Heidmann. The activities are led by many world-class researchers incl. Prof. Claude Cohen-Tannoudji, Nobel Prize Winner for Physics (1997) and Prof. Serge Haroche, Nobel Prize Winner for Physics (2012). The Quantum Optics Group research area is focused on quantum properties of light produced by many different optical systems. It consists of experimental & theoretical studies concerning quantum fluctuations of light, generation of entangled states, the interaction between quantum light and matter, nanophotonics, and quantum metrology. It consists of three teams working in Quantum Networks (Prof. J. Laurat), Multimode Quantum Optics (Prof. N. Treps), Quantum Fluids of Light and Nanooptics (Prof. A. Bramati, Prof. E. Giacobino). The NONGAUSS activities at SU will be led by Professor Julien Laurat.

Quantum Optics at the Palacký University (UP) in Olomouc has tradition of more than 50 years. During the first decades, a small theory team around Prof. Jan Peřina investigated fundamental statistical aspects of coherent and squeezed light in linearised optical processes. In 1990s, a research group at the Department of Optics built by Prof. Zdeněk Hradil investigated quantum measurement and statistical methods of quantum tomography and quantum state estimation.

Since 2005, the NONGAUSS team led by Professor Radim Filip focuses on feasible proposals for generating quantum non-Gaussian (QNG) states, operations, and measurements together with applications in quantum technology. It is closely connected with the investigation of high-order nonlinear quantum phenomena of light and matter. During the last decade, this NONGAUSS team intensively collaborated with the quantum optics lab led by Dr. Miroslav Ježek and atomic and trapped ion lab led by Dr. Lukáš Slodička. From the very beginning, the team actively collaborated with many international labs in quantum optics. The success of this theory-focused-on-experiments strategy is witnessed by many excellent results, including papers in Nature family journals and Physical Review Letters. This research group also collaborates with other distinguished theorists such as Prof. J. Fiurášek (quantum information theory), Prof. T. Opatrný (cold atoms theory), Prof. Z. Hradil and Prof. J. Řeháček (quantum estimation theory) and Assoc. Prof. L. Mišta (quantum entanglement theory). Their research uses methods and motivations from the field of quantum non-Gaussian physics to fulfil the goals of their respective directions.

During the period 2014-2018, the NONGAUSS team at UP has expanded into the non-Gaussian physics of trapped and cold ions, quantum optomechanics, and thermodynamics within the Center of Excellence for Classical and Quantum Interactions in NanoWorld. The Center was a joint activity with the Institute of Scientific Instruments of Czech Academy of Sciences focused on developing quantum technology tools in Czech Republic. It was also a crucial stimulus also for the theoretical NONGAUSS team, pushing it to follow modern trends of quantum theory and moving beyond traditional quantum optics. Since January 2019, the collaboration broadly continues within Interdisciplinary Collaboration in Metrology with Cold Quantum Objects and Fibre Networks (2019-2022) focused on theory and experiments with trapped ions and levitated optomechanics.