Professor Axel Kuhn

Dipl. Phys. (Kaiserslautern); Dr. rer. nat. (Kaiserslautern); Habilitation (TU München)

I graduated in physics at the University of Kaiserslautern in 1990, completing my doctoral studies in 1995. With a Feodor-Lynen fellowship of the Alexander-von-Humboldt foundation, I concentrated on laser cooling as a post-doctoral research assistant with Professor Cohen-Tannoudji at the Ecole Normale Supérieure in Paris. 

In 1998, I joined Professor Rempe's team at the University of Konstanz, and one year later I moved with my team to the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics in Garching. During this time, I focused on quantum information processing with single atoms and photons. 

In 2005, I qualified as a university professor at TU München. I joined the University of Oxford as a lecturer in experimental physics one year later. My research team at the Clarendon Laboratory is now investigating atom–photon connections.

I teach the courses Atom and Laser Physics, Optics, Quantum Optics, Quantum Mechanics, and Quantum Information Technology. 

My research focuses on the ultimate control of atom–photon interactions at the single-atom and single-photon level. My team brings quantum mechanics to work – i.e. they exploit, develop and implement new physical methods that are based on the principles of quantum mechanics. This encompasses the optical trapping and manipulation of single atoms, the interfacing of atoms and photons in microcavities, and single-photon quantum memories. The anticipated coupling and coherent control of single photons and atoms are the key to quantum information physics, with atoms and photons acting as information carriers in scalable quantum networks.

Many of my publications are listed on my departmental profile. 

I love to be with our four children, which is often more challenging than the management of a small research team. There's only a little time left, which I use for cycling, biking, skiing and photographing.