Further information: Research group Oliver Wenger Research group Martino Poggio Research group Tomasz Smoleński Research group Richard Warburton Uni News PHOQUS Research group Dominik Zumbühl Interreg Project UpQuantVal Influencing and controlling quantum states with light Professor Tomasz Smoleński joined the Department of Physics at the University of Basel in early 2025 and has recently been awarded both an ERC Starting Grant and an SNSF Spark project. Within the ERC Starting Grant — funded for five years and set to begin in January 2026 — researchers in the Smoleński Group will investigate how light can selectively modify the properties of novel quan- tum materials. The studied van der Waals hetero- structures consist of only a few atomic layers and host collective electronic states that behave as if ex- posed to an extremely strong artificial magnetic field, even though no real magnetic field is applied. The project aims to understand how light can influ- ence and control these sensitive quantum states. In the long term, these insights are expected to open new pathways for the optical control of quantum phases — a key step toward future quantum and nanotechnologies. In the SNSF Spark project, the Smoleński team will implement a novel quantum-optical interface for sensing the dynamics of electrons forming exotic states in two-dimensional materials. This approach could provide a revolutionary photonic platform en- abling ultrafast access to emergent quantum phases of matter. Entangled photons for quantum technology An international team involving Professor Richard Warburton from the Department of Physics at the University of Basel has recently been awarded a pres- tigious European Research Council (ERC) Synergy Grant. In this project, the researchers aim to create entangled photons for applications in quantum com- puting and quantum communication. The entangled photons will be created using advanced semiconduc- tors. Until now, only single photons could be used in quantum communication to transmit information over long distances or as the smallest unit of a quan- tum computer (qubit). The more photons are used, the more complicated and expensive the hardware becomes. In the PHOQUS project, which has now been ap- proved for 6 years as part of the EU’s Horizon Europe program, the researchers aim to create so-called “photonic resource states” – groups of at least three photons that are entangled with each other. These resource states can be used at the inputs of a pho- tonic chip and are predicted to be much more scal- able than single photons. The research is being conducted jointly by teams in Basel, Bochum, and Copenhagen. In Bochum, new semiconductors, notably quantum dots, will be de- veloped. In Basel, the new semiconductors will be tested and the first device prototypes built, while in Magnetic properties of van der Waals materials In April 2026, Professor Martino Poggio (Department of Physics, University of Basel) will launch a four-year SNSF project. As part of this work, his team will in- vestigate extremely thin magnetic materials known as van der Waals magnets, which are made up of just one or a few atomic layers. The goal is to understand how the magnetic prop- erties change if a material becomes this thin. Al- though magnetism is well understood in macro- scopic systems, so-called “low-dimensional” magne- tism and the mechanisms that stabilize it continue to defy expectation. Perhaps more importantly, the researchers are excited to explore how these mate- rials can be engineered into magnetic devices with new functionality. To investigate these systems, the team will have to develop extremely sensitive mag- netic imaging techniques capable of resolving the tiny magnetic fields produced by single atomic lay- ers. These include scanning probes based on nano- magnetometers or ultrasensitive mechanical oscil- lators that can map magnetic fields on the scale of just a few nanometers. Ultimately, the researchers aim to improve our understanding of magnetism and to assess how van der Waals materials could be used for future applications in ultra-small magnetic com- ponents or memory. also be readily absorbed by plants. To this end, the researchers will reprogram me- talloenzymes from bacteria and archaea to catalyze the oxidation of N2 to nitrate. As a fertilizer, nitrate has several advantages over ammonia — and the ox- idation of N2 also requires less energy than reduction. The new technique could therefore reduce energy consumption in agriculture in the long term. The other ERC Advanced Grant went to Professor Oliver Wenger for his research in the field of photo- chemistry — the study of chemical reactions trig- gered by light. Wenger and his team want to expand the poten- tial of photochemistry by overcoming a fundamental limitation: According to “Kasha’s rule,” only the low- est excited energy state of a molecule can be used for chemical reactions. As higher excited states lose their energy too quickly, there has so far been no way to use them effectively. The project now being funded aims to overcome these boundaries and specifically initiate chemical reactions from higher excited states. To this end, the researchers are pursuing two approaches: They want to slow down energy loss from these states while also increasing the reaction speed so that reactions take place faster than energy is lost. If they succeed in carrying out these reactions reliably, their work could drive significant advances in both synthetic chemis- try and the efficient conversion of solar energy. 16 SNI INSight December 2025