News
New Publication!
18th June, 2026
Researchers at the University of Innsbruck and CNRS have predicted a novel non-equilibrium phase of matter that emerges when ultracold atoms are driven by cyclic changes of their interactions. The resulting “fractionated Fermi gas” is a highly excited yet ordered state with properties that go beyond the established Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid description of one-dimensional quantum systems. The work provides theoretical support for ongoing experiments with ultracold cesium atoms in our group.
Read more in the UIBK article
Original publication in Physical Review Letters
New Publication!
20th April, 2026
A new theoretical study explains how interacting quantum systems behave under periodic driving, addressing a long-standing question in quantum physics. Building on a 2025 experiment, the researchers show that interactions reshape dynamical localization through a universal power-law mechanism, eventually causing its breakdown.
Read more in the UIBK article
Original publication in Physical Review Letters
Liechtenstein-Prize awarded to Yanliang!
10th April, 2026
Congratulations to our PostDoc, Dr. Yanliang Guo, on receiving the prestigious Liechtenstein-Prize for Scientific Research! The award, presented in Vaduz, recognizes outstanding early-career researchers and highlights excellence across a wide range of disciplines. Dr. Guo was honored alongside fellow researchers from the University of Innsbruck and the Medical University of Innsbruck.
Read more in the UIBK article
18th Dec, 2025
New publication: ‘Anyonization of Bosons in One Dimension: An Effective Swap Model’.
The CsIII team, in collaboration with researchers from the Collège de France, and the Université Libre de Bruxelles, has developed a simple yet powerful method to reveal anyons—exotic quantum particles that are neither bosons nor fermions—in one-dimensional systems.
Source: A Simple Spin Swap Reveals Exotic Anyons – Universität Innsbruck
Link to the article: Anyonization of Bosons in One Dimension: An Effective Swap Model | Phys. Rev. Lett.
12th Nov, 2025
New publication: ‘Spectroscopy and Ground-State Transfer of Ultracold Bosonic 39K133Cs Molecules’.
Researchers from Hanns-Christoph Nägerl’s group have produced the world’s first ultracold KCs molecules in their absolute ground state. Starting by mixing clouds of potassium and caesium atoms cooled almost to absolute zero temperature, they were able to use a combination of magnetic fields and laser beams to associate pairs of freely moving atoms into chemically stable molecules.
Source: Molecules assembled by hand – Universität Innsbruck
Link to the article: Spectroscopy and Ground-State Transfer of Ultracold Bosonic Molecules | Phys. Rev. Lett.
14th Aug, 2025
New publication: ‘Observation of many-body dynamical localization’.
A quantum system that defies classical expectations by resisting heating under continuous external driving has been observed by the CsIII team. The phenomenon, termed “many-body dynamical localization”, reveals how quantum coherence prevents energy absorption. The findings have now been published in Science.
Source: A Quantum Gas That Refuses to Heat – Universität Innsbruck
Link to the article: Observation of many-body dynamical localization | Science
ERC Advanced Grant!
17th June, 2025
For the second time in his career, Hanns-Christoph has received an ERC Advanced Grant, the most highly funded award in European science. It will be used to study quantum transport and many-body localization in ultracold atomic systems, in particular in reduced dimensionality.
28th May, 2025
New publication: ‘Observing anyonization of bosons in a quantum gas’.
The CsIII team, in collaboration with Mikhail Zvonarev from Université Paris-Saclay, and Nathan Goldman’s theory group at Université Libre de Bruxelles (Belgium) & Collège de France (Paris), has observed anyons – quasiparticles that differ from the familiar fermions and bosons – in a one-dimensional quantum system for the first time. The results, published in Nature, may contribute to a better understanding of quantum matter and its potential applications.
Source: Observing one-dimensional anyons – Universität Innsbruck
Link to the article: Observing anyonization of bosons in a quantum gas | Nature
24th May, 2024
Today Deborah Capecchi (RbCs) successfully defended her PhD title. Congratulations!
3rd May, 2024
New publication: ‘Bose-Einstein condensation of non-ground-state caesium atoms’.
In a pioneering effort, the CsIII team in collaboration with theorists from the University of Durham have for the first time achieved Bose-Einstein condensation of non-ground state caesium atoms. Published in Nature Communications, this research paves the way for new experiments with ultracold atomic gases and the study of many-body quantum physics.
Source: First condensation of non-ground state Cesium atoms – Universität Innsbruck (uibk.ac.at)
Link to the article: Bose-Einstein condensation of non-ground-state caesium atoms | Nature Communications
9th April, 2024
New publication: ‘Observation of the 2D–1D crossover in strongly interacting ultracold bosons’.
The CsIII team has, for the first time, probed the dimensional crossover for ultracold quantum matter. In the regime between one and two dimensions, the quantum particles perceive their world as being 1D or 2D depending on the length scale on which they are probed: On short distances, their world is 1D, but it is 2D on long distances. The results obtained from correlation measurements in collaboration with a theoretical group from Geneva have just been published in Nature Physics.
Source: Dimensionality revealed – Universität Innsbruck (uibk.ac.at)
Link to the article: Observation of the 2D–1D crossover in strongly interacting ultracold bosons, Nature Physics (2024)
14th February, 2024
New publication: ‘Anomalous cooling by dimensional reduction’. 
The CsIII team, together with a group of theorists from Geneva, has developed a new thermometry method to measure temperatures for low-dimensional quantum gases. With this method it was found that compressing a gas may lead to cooling. The results on this counterintuitive phenomenon have just been published in Science Advances.
Source: Compression may cool – Universität Innsbruck (uibk.ac.at)
Link to the article: Anomalous cooling of bosons by dimensional reduction | Science Advances
APA press release: Umgekehrter Effekt: Stärkere Verdichtung kühlt Quantengase (apa.at)