Helmholtz International Fellow Award 2020 granted to Prof. Andreas Wallraff

Prof. Andreas Wallraff, an expert in the field of quantum information, is one of this year's recipients of a Helmholtz International Fellow Award from the Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres (HGF). The award enables the scientist from the ETH Zurich to expand an existing cooperation with scientists at Forschungszentrum Jülich.

Some computing tasks push conventional computers to their performance limits. Quantum computers with their completely new architecture have the potential to solve these tasks. Prof. Andreas Wallraff is researching the basic principles required to build such a quantum computer.
Quantum information science is the research focus of the Helmholtz International Fellow Awardee. Prof. Andreas Wallraff is an expert in this field and is working on various topics within this area. Starting in his doctoral thesis, which the physicist defended at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, he investigated the quantum dynamics of vortices in superconductors. In many ways, the scientist subsequently contributed to the construction of components for superconducting quantum computers, which can now be found in most systems currently under development.

Wallraff laid the foundation for his scientific career with his studies at Imperial College London and the two JARA partners RWTH Aachen University and Forschungszentrum Jülich. After completing his doctorate in Erlangen-Nuremberg, Wallraff deepened his knowledge as a post-doc at Yale University (USA) and started working at ETH Zurich in 2006, first as tenure-track assistant professor and later as associate professor. Since 2012, the scientist has been working as full professor of solid state physics in the Physics Department at ETH Zurich.
The Board of Directors of Forschungszentrum Jülich nominated Andreas Wallraff for the Helmholtz International Fellow Award on the recommendation of Prof. David DiVincenzo, JARA Professor and Director of the Peter Grünberg Institute (PGI), Theoretical Nanoelectronics at Forschungszentrum Jülich. Wallraff and DiVincenzo have been engaged in a lively scientific exchange and fruitful cooperation for many years now. The award provides the opportunity to strengthen this cooperation. Prof. Wallraff and Prof. DiVincenzo started their joint research in the field of quantum information at the Research Center at the beginning of October 2020 for a total of two years. During this time, the Zurich researcher will spend several research stays in Jülich.

The Helmholtz International Fellow Award
Since 2012, the Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres has presented the Helmholtz International Fellow Award twice a year to international scientists who have distinguished themselves through their scientific achievements. Candidates are nominated by Helmholtz scientists or through pre-selection by the HGF Head Office. The prize is funded with 20,000 euros. In addition, the award winners are given the opportunity to spend research periods at one or more HGF centres. The aim is to consolidate and expand existing collaborations between the researchers, their home institutions and the HGF's research centres. In the first selection round of 2020, five award winners from different research areas were selected.

Contact:
Sabine Clemens
Press Officer
Phone: +49 2461 61-96421 (Forschungszentrum Jülich)
Fax: +49 2461 61-1816
Mail: s.clemens@jara.org
https://www.jara.org