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Dr. Valentin Walther

Dr. Valentin Walther

The goal of our group is to describe the physics and chemistry of Rydberg excitations. These highly-excited states feature enormous wave function sizes, huge dipole moments and, most importantly, very strong interactions. We develop methods and schemes to observe and characterize the effects of strong correlations and investigate how they could be used in quantum information science. Our group has a dual interests in atomic systems and semiconductors. In atomic platforms, we work on new ideas for some of the highest precision quantum devices, such as arrays of neutral Rydberg atoms (which are a main competitor as a useful quantum computer) and novel types of Rydberg molecules (so-called macrodimers) with bond lengths in the micron range. In semiconductors, Rydberg excitations (of electron-hole bound pairs called excitons) are more of a newcomer after their first observation in 2014. Here, our goal is to develop a theoretical description of the Rydberg states, their interactions and how they affect the (quantum) optical properties of the semiconductor.

Education

  • B.S., Goethe University Frankfurt, 2013
  • M.A., Stony Brook University, 2014
  • Ph.D., Max-Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems, TU Dresden, 2019
  • Postdoctoral Fellow, ITAMP, Harvard University, 2022

Awards

  • German National Merit Foundation (2010-2014)
  • Fulbright Scholarship (2013-2014)
  • ITAMP Fellowship (2019-2022)

Publications

List of publications