Have you ever thought of using superconducting single-photon detectors for homodyne detection? In our newest publication we show how we used superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPDs) to study the continuous variables of optical quantum states using homodyne detection. From the joint click statistics of two SNSPDs we measured the phase-dependent quadrature of a weak coherent state, which was interfered with a continuous wave local…

As we are part of the Institute for Photonic Quantum Systems (PhoQS), multiple members of our group participate in the PhoQS school program. We want to raise the interest of school students in the fascinating world of physics and quantum optics. We visit physics classes of the upper school and give exclusive insights in the physics studies and what it is like to work in an academic research group. Moreover, this is a great chance for the pupils…

Yesterday we said goodbye to Max, as he will leave the group after almost five years in our group. We met in the afternoon to have eat pizza together, play games and had a lot of fun, especially at "Uno mit Zwischenlegen". Thanks for all your work, and being a big part of our group!

Together as a group we went to the christmas market to have some nice food. Besides that it was a nice opportunity to chat.

We congratulate all students who graduated this year in the faculty of natural sciences. In particular all students which graduated from our group: Markus Brieden, Stefan Vorwerk, Maximilian Protte, Niklas Schröder and Frederik Thiele.   

We congratulate Frederik Thiele who successfully defended his PhD thesis titled "Opto-electronics for quantum communication at cryogenic temperatures" and was awarded the "Dr. rer. nat." degree by the Faculty of Science at Paderborn University.

Four people from our group contributed with posters at the European Quantum Technologies Conference in Hannover, Germany. Nina Lange showed her work about "Cryogenic Degenerate Spontaneous Parametric Down-Conversion" Frederik Thiele presented his poster titled "All-optical operation of a superconducting opto-electronic circuit" Thomas Hummel showed a poster about "Cryogenic electronics for integrated SNSPDs" Timon Schapeler presented his work…

We contributed with one presentation and one poster to the Frontiers in Optics + Laser Science Meeting in Tacoma, USA. Maximilian Protte presented a poster about "Strong-Field Homodyne Detection with Superconducting Nanowire Single-Photon Detectors". Thomas Hummel presented at talk about "Gated- and optical biasing for SNSPDs".

We congratulate Niklas Schröder for successfully defending his bachelor thesis about "Laser intensity stabilization for experiments in quantum optics".

Some of our group members joined the workshop "PHOTONICS FUTURE - Profound | Equal | Inclusive". This workshop was specifically aimed at female scientists, who gave insights into their work and career. For more information visit the TRR142 website here.

On the 2nd and 3rd of October, Thomas Hummel visited the University of Iowa hosted by assistant Prof. R. Uppu from the "Quantum Light Control Lab". During this time there were various lab-tours and many discussions. Thomas also gave a guest lecture about the operation and control of SNSPDs.

In our publication, we explored a technique to operate an SNSPD all-optically at cryogenic temperatures. SNSPDs are superconducting single-photon detectors required for quantum optical measurements. Cryogenic operation temperatures are needed for these single photon sensitive devices. Typically, superconducting detectors are operated in a cryostat. Coaxial cables are then used to transmit power and signals between the cryogenic detector and the…

We congratulate Stefan Vorwerk for successfully defending his bachelor thesis about "Characterising laser-written periodic poling in nonlinear waveguides".

Beginning of the week we had our Summer-Event. Most of our group met at the Lippesee and everyone brought some food and snacks. Besides enjoing the nice weather and food, some of us also went swimming. We ended with a competitive match of Ultimate Frisbee, after which everyone was exhausted.

In a short video Nina Lange explains how sum frequency generation works. If you are interested, you can check it out on our YouTube channel.  More information (in German) can be found in this news article from the Institute for Photonic Quantum Systems (PhoQS).