Federico Roccati, postdoctoral researcher within the Department of Physics and Material Sciences at the University of Luxembourg, has recently received the prestigious Fulbright Scholarship from the United States. With this award, Federico will go to Columbia University to investigate atom-photon interaction with many-body light.
After a Master in Theoretical and Mathematical Physics from the Ludwig Maximilian University and the Technical University of Munich and a PhD in Physical and Chemical Sciences from the University of Palermo, Federico Roccati joined the University of Luxembourg in 2022. Within the group of Prof. Aurelia Chenu, he is working on non-Hermitian quantum dynamics.
“Photons do not naturally interact. However, in several experimental platforms available nowadays (e.g., superconducting circuits, optical cavities), an effective photon-photon interaction can be engineered. This provides the light field with a nonlinear many-body character, opening new avenues in quantum optics. This project will provide a deeper understanding of the behaviour of atoms immersed in a nonlinear light field, where peculiar quantum many-body phenomena, e.g., a quantum phase transition, occur”, explains Federico.
As a Fulbright Research Scholar, Federico will join the group of Prof. Ana Asenjo-Garcia at Columbia University from March 2024 for six months.
About the Fulbright Program
The Fulbright Program is one of the United States cultural exchange programmes with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people of the United States and other countries through the exchange of persons, knowledge, and skills. The programme was founded by United States Senator J. William Fulbright in 1946 and is considered to be one of the most widely recognised and prestigious scholarships in the world.