Two physics professors to join IST Austria

A series of new professors will join IST Austria in 2018. Among them are the two experimental physicists Onur Hosten and Zhanybek Alpichshev who will join in February and August, respectively. Onur Hosten’s research is focused on atomic and optical physics and quantum measurement techniques. He obtained his PhD from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and is currently based at Stanford University. Zhanybek Alpichshev, who is an expert in experimental condensed matter physics, scanning tunneling spectroscopy and ultrafast optical spectroscopy, obtained his PhD from Stanford University and is currently based at MIT.

Onur Hosten focuses on innovative techniques to control the quantum properties of atomic and optical systems with a particular interest in exploiting these systems for quantum science and applications such as precision sensing. He and his research group at IST Austria will develop new sensing techniques based on quantum entanglement to explore challenging questions such as the nature of dark matter, and the interplay between quantum mechanics and gravity.

While at Stanford and MIT, Zhanybek Alpichshev has studied the properties of the surface state of topological insulators and used various ultrafast optical techniques to study strongly correlated electron systems. He and his research group will apply advanced optical techniques to better understand the behavior of large numbers of electrons in the presence of strong interaction between them.

Tom Henzinger, President of IST Austria says: “The research interests of Zhanybek Alpichshev and Onur Hosten will broaden both the spectrum of methods applied and the range of fields represented at IST Austria, and I very much look forward to welcoming our two new faculty members to campus next year.”