Laser-based techniques make it possible to cool atoms to within billionths of a degree of absolute zero. At these temperatures, quantum phenomena, normally hidden in everyday life, become particularly prominent. Lasers can also be used to trap individual atoms, manipulate their quantum states, or create collective states of matter such as Bose–Einstein condensates and degenerate Fermi gases. Combined with microscopy capable of resolving individual atoms and precise control over atomic interactions, these techniques open new possibilities for exploring quantum many-body physics, quantum simulation, quantum computing, and quantum-enhanced sensing. These possibilities are at the heart of my research.
I obtained my Bachelor´s and Master´s degrees from Lobachevsky State University in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia. I conducted my PhD research at the Institute of Applied Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IAPRAS), also in Nizhny Novgorod, where our group pioneered experiments with two-dimensional ultracold Fermi gases. I defended my PhD thesis at the Institute of Laser Physics of the (ILP SBRAS) in Novosibirsk. After my PhD, I worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the Collège de France / Laboratoire Kastler Brossel (LKB) in Paris, and later at ICFO (Institute of Photonic Sciences) in Barcelona, where my research focused on quantum simulation, quantum-enhanced sensing, quantum gas microscopy, and supersolidity in Bose–Einstein condensates, an exotic state of matter combining the properties of a crystal and a superfluid. I then spent several years in industry, developing and building a neutral-atom quantum computer in which individual laser-trapped atoms serve as quantum bits.
Currently, at IGFAE, I am contributing to the commissioning of a trapped-ion quantum computing and simulation platform within the joint IGFAE–CESGA quantum technologies initiative.