Excellence Awards

A QCQT excellence award is offered once a year by the QCQT PhD school. PIs can nominate candidates in recognition of an outstanding achievement in research. Nominees need to be registered members of the PhD school. The award consists of an award certificate from the PhD school, listing on the QCQT page, plus a monetary prize. Awardees should present their work in the QCQT lunch seminar.

QCQT Excellence Awardees 2025

Grazia Raciti

Grazia Raciti, from Prof. Ilaria Zardo's research group, has received a QCQT 2025 Excellence Award in recognition of her outstanding work, “Unravelling Energy Flow Mechanisms in Semiconductors by Ultrafast Spectroscopy: Germanium as a Case Study", published in Adv. Sci. 13(11), e15470 in 2025 and “In-plane thermal diffusivity determination using beam-offset frequency-domain thermoreflectance with a one-dimensional optical heat source”, published in the International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 214, 124376, in 2023.

Aaron Daniel

Aaron Daniel, a member of Prof. Patrick Potts' research group, has received a QCQT 2025 Excellence Award in recognition of his exceptional work, “Thermodynamic Framework for Coherently Driven Systems”, which was published in Phys. Rev. Lett. 135, 220201, (2025).

QCQT Excellence Awardees 2024

Arianna Nigro, “High quality Ge layers for Ge/SiGe quantum well heterostructures using chemical vapor deposition”, Phys. Rev. Materials 8, 066201 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevMaterials.8.066201
and “Demonstration of microwave resonators and double quantum dots on optimised reverse graded Ge/SiGe heterostructures”, ACS Appl. Electron. Mater. 6(7), 5094–5100 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1021/acsaelm.4c00654
Julian Arnold, “Replacing Neural Networks by Optimal Analytical Predictors for the Detection of Phase Transitions”, Phys. Rev. X 12, 031044 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevX.12.031044
and “Mapping Out Phase Diagrams with Generative Classifiers”, Phys. Rev. Lett. 132, 207301 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.132.207301
Kacper Prech, “Quantum Fluctuation Theorem for Arbitrary Measurement and Feedback Schemes”, Phys. Rev. Lett. 133, 140401 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.133.140401
Märta Tschudin, “Imaging nanomagnetism and magnetic phase transitions in atomically thin CrSBr“, Nat. Commun. 15, 6005 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-49717-9

QCQT Excellence Awardees 2023

Nadia Antoniadis, “Cavity-enhanced single-shot readout of a quantum dot spin within 3 nanoseconds”, Nat Commun14, 3977 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-39568-1
and “A chiral one-dimensional atom using a quantum dot in an open microcavity”, npj Quantum Inf8, 27 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41534-022-00545-z
Nam Nguyen, “Enhanced Electron-Spin Coherence in a GaAs Quantum Emitter”, Phys. Rev. Lett. 131, 210805 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.131.210805
and “Quantum interference of identical photons from remote GaAs quantum dots”, Nat. Nanotechnol.17, 829–833 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41565-022-01131-2
Richard Hess, “Trivial Andreev Band Mimicking Topological Bulk Gap Reopening in the Nonlocal Conductance of Long Rashba Nanowires”, Phys. Rev. Lett. 130, 207001 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.130.207001
Tobias Nadolny, “Macroscopic Quantum Synchronization Effects“, Phys. Rev. Lett. 131, 190402 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.131.190402

QCQT Excellence Awardees 2022

Maryse Ernzer, “Optical coherent feedback control of a mechanical oscillator”, Phys. Rev. X 13, 021023 (2023), https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevX.13.021023
Paolo Colciaghi, “Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen experiment with two Bose-Einstein condensates”, Phys. Rev. X 13, 021031 (2023), https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevX.13.021031
Clemens Spinnler, “Optically driving the radiative Auger transition”, Nat. Commun. 12, 6575 (2021), https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-26875-8
and “Quantum interference of identical photons from remote GaAs quantum dots”, Nat. Nanotechnol. 17, 829 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41565-022-01131-2

QCQT Excellence Awardees 2021

Frank Schäfer, “Interpretable and unsupervised phase classification”, Phys Rev Research 3, 033052 (2021), https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.3.033052
Simon Svab, “Isotropic and Anisotropic g-factor Corrections in GaAs Quantum Dots”, Phys. Rev. Lett. 127, 057701 (2021), https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.127.057701
Natascha Hedrich, Nanoscale mechanics of antiferromagnetic domain walls”, Nature Physics 17, 574-577 (2021), https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-020-01157-0
Natsha Tomm, “A bright and fast source of coherent single photons”, Nature Nanotechnology 16, 399-403 (2021), https://doi.org/10.1038/s41565-020-00831-x
Mudith Sinahl, “Quantum-nondemolition state detection and spectroscopy of single trapped molecules”, Science 367, 1213-1218 (2020), https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaz9837

QCQT Excellence Awardees 2019

Matthias Löbl, “Excitons in InGaAs quantum dots without electron wetting layer states”, Commun Phys2, 93 (2019), https://doi.org/10.1038/s42005-019-0194-9

Travel Support

Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven NL (Jun-Aug 2023)

Nicolas Forrer

In my third year of my PhD I was offered the possibility to go abroad for a research stay at the Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) in the south of the Netherlands. There I worked under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Erik Bakkers in the growth of hexagonal SiGe branches with the final goal of realizing optical quantum dots. Working there gave me insights into other growth techniques using metal-organic precursors, growth of hexagonal III-V nanowires, branch growth from different materials and as well doping of wire branches. Getting to know these new approaches in an advanced cleanroom and the use of an aberration corrected TEM completed my stay.
After settling in, I started to explore the city and to dive into the life of an international student. Eindhoven, even being the 5th biggest city in the Netherlands, still manages to keep a certain small city charm and a lot of very nice neighbourhoods, restaurants and bars. Having a bike here is a must and the main transportation to get around the city. I was impressed by the size of the campus of the university, but also how folksy the Dutch people are. This research stay made it certainly possible to extend my research expertise and to work in an international environment outside of Switzerland. I’m very thankful for the financial support from both the NCCR SPIN International mobility grant and the QCQT travel grant, as well to Prof. Dr. Ilaria Zardo from the University of Basel and Prof. Dr. Erik Bakkers from the University of Technology for making this research stay even possible.

International Conference on Raman Spectroscopy (August 2022)

Grazia Raciti

The 27th International conference on Raman Spectroscopy (ICORS) took place in Long Beach (California) from August 14 to August 19 2022. The conference had the aim to bring together researchers from different fields to discuss the most recent progress and ideas in Raman spectroscopy.

As a PhD student, working on the implementation of an ultrafast Raman spectroscopy setup, this conference was particularly fruitful. The wide offer of both theoretical and experimental talks, allowed me to learn more about various aspects of this field. I had many opportunities to engage with different researchers on an international scale, from lunch breaks to the poster sessions. Regarding the latter, I had the chance to present my work on one of the conference poster sessions. I enjoyed many stimulating discussions about some challenges I am facing in my work. Those interactions were very beneficial since I had the opportunity to talk with researchers who are working on similar subjects.

Beyond the certainly fruitful scientific aspect, it was also very fun to attend to one of the conference social activities: the whale watching. It was really exciting to see whales for the first time in my life.

Finally, I would like to thank my professor Ilaria Zardo for giving me the opportunity to participate to this conference and all the founding that supported me, in particular the QCQT (Quantum Computer and Quantum Technology) school of the University of Basel.

Cambridge/Boston (Jun-Dez 2019)

Märta Tschudin

At the beginning of my PhD studies I had the opportunity to leave for a study exchange at the MIT in Cambridge/Boston. I joined the Group of Prof. Pablo Jarillo-Herrero, where I worked on the fabrication of two-dimensional, magnetic samples. In the lab I got to know many new fabrication and measurement techniques and I also had the chance to gain insight into other American Universities in the Boston area (Harvard for example allows MIT students to work in their cleanroom). I received precious guidance for fabricating new 2D samples and at the end of my stay, I could take several samples with me to be measured in Basel.
I enjoyed living in Cambridge and being immersed into its international student life. Cambridge has a very lively atmosphere and offers many different places to explore (even by bike!). I was generally fascinated by the numerous scientific events taking place in the greater Boston area, ranging from evening lectures in Museums and science slams in cafes to open air theatre plays in the heart of Boston.
This exchange has certainly formed an important part of my PhD and I am very grateful for the financial support from both the Basel QCQT PhD School and the Quantumsensing Group of Prof. Patrick Maletinsky from the University of Basel.

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