Group members
TwinTraps Group
We have several positions available for bachelor and master students as well as PhD students and postdocs. Please write me an email if you are interested and would like to learn more about our research.
The PI (CV)
| 03/2026 - | Lise Meitner group leader, MPIK Heidelberg |
| 11/2024 - | ERC StG group leader, MPIK Heidelberg |
| 12/2023 - 11/2024 | Junior group leader, Pfeifer division, MPIK Heidelberg |
| 2023 | Humboldt postdoctoral fellow, MPIK Heidelberg |
| 2021 - 2022 | Postdoctoral Associate, JILA, Boulder, USA Thompson group |
| 2018 - 2020 | Junior Research Fellow, Christ Church College, University of Oxford, UK Oxford Ion Trap Group |
| 2014 - 2018 | Doctorate of Physics (DPhil), University of Oxford, UK Supervisor: Prof. David Lucas |
| 2008 - 2013 | Bachelor & Master of Physics, ETH Zürich, Switzerland |
| 2024 | ERC Starting Grant, AlphaVar, MPIK, Germany |
| 2023 | Humboldt fellowship, MPIK, Germany |
| 2019 | Springer thesis prize |
| 2018 | Junior Research Fellowship, Christ Church College, Oxford, UK |
| 2017 | Best poster prize at NACTI conference, NIST, Boulder, USA |
| 2014-2017 | JT Hamilton and Lady D. scholarship, Balliol College, Oxford |
| 2008-2013 | Scholarship by the ’Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes’ |
| 2008 | Student prize of the German Physical Society (DPG) |
| 2008 | Winner of the International Young Physicists’ Tournament (IYPT) with German team |
| 2026 | Co-lecturer “Experimental methods in Atomic & Molecular Physics”, University of Heidelberg |
| 2025 | Tutor in Advanced Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics (MKEP3), University of Heidelberg |
| 2025 | Tutor in Experimentalphysik II - Transportprozesse, Elektrodynamik, Relativität (PEP2), University of Heidelberg |
| 2025 | Lecture at University of Innsbruck DK ALM summer school, Obergurgl, Austria |
| 2025 | Guest lecture in AAMOP course on "Quantum computing with trapped ions", University of Heidelberg |
| 2023 | Co-lecturer "Seminar on key experiments in quantum physics", University of Heidelberg |
| 2019 | Lecture at UCL Quantum Technologies winter school, Cumberland Lodge, Windsor |
| 2014-2016 | Tutor in 3rd year quantum and atomic physics, New College and Balliol College, Oxford |
Continuous recoil-driven lasing and cavity frequency pinning with laser-cooled atoms
V. M. Schäfer, Z. Niu, J. R. K. Cline, D. J. Young, E. Y. Song, H. Ritsch, J. K. Thompson
Nature Physics, Vol. 21, pp. 902-908 (2025)
Time-resolved pairing gap spectroscopy in a quantum simulator of fermionic superfluidity inside an optical cavity
D. J. Young, E. Y. Song, A. Chu, D. Barberena, Z. Niu, V. M. Schäfer, R. J. Lewis-Swan, A. M. Rey, J. K. Thompson
Phys. Rev. Lett., Vol. 134, pp. 183404 (2025)
Many-body gap protection against motional dephasing of an optical clock transition
Z. Niu, V. M. Schäfer, H. Zhang, C. Wagner, N. R. Taylor, D. J. Young, E. Y. Song, A. Chu, A. M. Rey, J. K. Thompson
Phys. Rev. Lett., Vol. 134, pp. 113403 (2025)
Continuous collective strong coupling of strontium atoms to a high finesse ring cavity
J. R. K. Cline, V. M. Schäfer, Z. Niu, D. J. Young, T. H. Yoon, J. K. Thompson
Phys. Rev. Lett., Vol. 134, pp. 013403 (2025)
Editor’s suggestion
Observing dynamical phases of BCS superconductors in a cavity QED simulator
D. J. Young, A. Chu, E. Y. Song, D. Barberena, D. Wellnitz, Z. Niu, V. M. Schäfer, R. J. Lewis-Swan, A. M. Rey, J. K. Thompson
Nature, Vol. 625, pp. 679-684, (2024)
Sympathetically cooled highly charged ions in a radio-frequency trap with superconducting magnetic shielding
E. A. Dijck, C. Warnecke, M. Wehrheim, R. B. Henninger, J. Eff, K. Georgiou, A. Graf, S. Kokh, L. P. K. Sajith, C. Mayo, V. M. Schäfer, C. Volk, P. O. Schmidt, T. Pfeifer, J. R. C. López-Urrutia
Rev. Sci. Intrum. 94, pp. 083203, (2023)
Quantum computing hardware in the cloud: Should a computational chemist care?
A. Rossi, P. G. Baity, V. M. Schäfer, M. Weides
Int. J. Quant. Chem., Vol. 121, pp. e26688 (2021)
Benchmarking of a high-fidelity mixed-species entangling gate
A. C. Hughes, V. M. Schäfer, K. Thirumalai, D. P. Nadlinger, S. R. Woodrow, D. M. Lucas, C. J. Ballance
Phys. Rev. Lett., Vol. 125, pp. 080504 (2020)
Editor’s suggestion, featured in a popular synopsis in Physics
Chosen for a PRL online journal club (October 2020)
Fast Gates and Mixed Species Entanglement with Trapped Ions
V. M. Schäfer
Springer Theses Recognizing Outstanding Ph.D. Research, (2020)
Magnetic field stabilization system for atomic physics experiments
B. Merkel, K. Thirumalai, J. E. Tarlton, V. M. Schäfer, C. J. Ballance, T. P. Harty, D. M. Lucas
Rev. Sci. Instrum., Vol. 90, pp. 044702, (2019)
Fast quantum logic gates with trapped-ion qubits
V. M. Schäfer, C. J. Ballance, K. Thirumalai, L. J. Stephenson, T. G. Ballance, A. M. Steane, D. M. Lucas
Nature, Vol. 555, pp. 75-78, (2018)
Featured in a News and Views article by Prof. Tobias Schätz
Hybrid quantum logic and a test of Bell’s inequality using two different atomic species
C. J. Ballance, V. M. Schäfer, J. P. Home, D. J. Szwer, S. C. Webster, D. T. C. Allcock, N. M. Linke, T. P. Harty, D. P. L. Aude Craik, D. N. Stacey, A. M. Steane, D. M. Lucas
Nature, Vol. 528, pp. 384-386, (2015)
selected as one of Physics World’s "Top Ten Breakthroughs" of 2016
Featured in a News and Views article by Prof. Tobias Schätz
Optical injection and spectral filtering of high-power UV laser diodes
V. M. Schäfer, C. J. Ballance, C. J. Tock, D. M. Lucas
Opt. Lett., Vol. 40, pp. 4265-4268, (2015)