To mark today’s World Quantum Day, a new episode of the podcast series “Exzellent erklärt” is out: under the title “Quantum Metrology – Tracking Down Dark Matter with Atomic Clocks”, Professor Piet Schmidt and professor Elina Fuchs present a key research focus of the Cluster of Excellence QuantumFrontiers.
The search for dark matter is one of the major unsolved questions in physics. Around the world, researchers are hunting for evidence of new particles with ever more precise and elaborate experiments. Yet despite intensive efforts, not a single particle has been detected so far. In the podcast, Piet Schmidt and Elina Fuchs explain why ultra-precise measurements with optical atomic clocks open up new possibilities.
Within the QuantumFrontiers Cluster of Excellence, researchers are conducting measurements with unprecedented precision to advance basic research and develop new applications in geodesy and quantum technology. They are developing the next generation of atom interferometers, optical clocks and gravitational-wave detectors. Alongside Leibniz University Hannover, the cluster includes TU Braunschweig, the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt and other partners.
“Exzellent erklärt – Spitzenforschung für alle” is the joint science podcast of the German Clusters of Excellence within the Excellence Strategy of the Federal and State Governments. Each episode focuses on one cluster: researchers speak with podcaster Larissa Vassilian in accessible terms about their topics, methods and findings – and the societal questions they aim to address.
The new episode is available on “exzellent erklärt” and most major podcast platforms.
World Quantum Day is an international day of action held annually on 14 April. Its aim is to engage the public with quantum science and technologies and to highlight their potential for society and the economy. The date, 14/4, symbolically refers to the Planck constant – a fundamental quantity in quantum physics.
