Jonas Larson

Materials change their properties at extremely low temperatures; they stop following the traditional laws of physics and, instead, quantum mechanics takes over. As a Wallenberg Academy Fellow, Jonas Larson will use theoretical methods to study the different and exciting phenomena that occur close to absolute zero.

Using laser beams, researchers can cool atoms to temperatures that are very close to absolute zero. Something called the “Bose-Einstein condensate” can form; this is a state in which all the atoms in a gas follow each other and behave in the same way.

Dr Jonas Larson from the Department of Physics, Stockholm University, will use analytical and numerical methods to investigate the quantum phenomena that occur when a cold gas is placed in an optical cavity, created using lasers. When the cold atoms interact with light the material enters different phases in which complex quantum mechanical states occur.

Jonas Larson will also conduct theoretical studies of cold atomic systems that function as models for quantum magnetism. He will collaborate with a research group in Zurich that will evaluate the theoretical results using experiments. The aim of the project is to better understand the quantum world, which is still largely mysterious to us.