Correlations and Transport in Rydberg Matter

We are a research group established at the Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems in Dresden, Germany. We are eager to hire postdocs and PhD students interested in exploring topics in theoretical atomic and molecular physics, anchored on the versatile Rydberg atom.

Rydberg atoms form a bridge between the microscopic world (atoms, electrons, and molecules) and the mesoscopic world of micrometer length scales, optical lattices, Bose-Einstein condensates, and structured or amorphous condensed matter. We are interested in exploring theoretically the structure and dynamics of Rydberg matter -- encompassing interacting Rydberg atoms, ground state atoms immersed within the electronic wave function of a Rydberg atom, Rydberg molecules, and Rydberg quasiparticles (excitons, polarons, etc).

Via the study of Rydberg physics we answer fundamental questions about atomic structure, low-energy collisions and scattering, and the behavior of ultracold gases, while also raising new questions related to localization, transport, highly correlated systems, quantum chaos, semiclassical dynamics, and quantum simulation, all due to the Rydberg atom’s high density of states, excitation, and long-range interactions. These same approaches can be applied to the study of other excited systems, particularly those exhibiting strong degeneracy. A strong relationship with ongoing experimental work and the flexibility of Rydberg atoms to shed insight into new theoretical inquiries motivate much of this line of research.

More about our research and current research highlights can be found here. Information about open positions can be found here.