Research Area

Physics

Research Area

Physics

29. April 2025
Guest article by
Thomas Juffmann
Rudolphina Experts: Quantum research

Microscopy in the age of quantum physics

As part of the current semester question, Thomas Juffmann, head of the Quantum Optics and Microscopy research group at the University of Vienna, explains how quantum physics has contributed to the development of modern microscopes with atomic resolution and how it could further improve them in the future.
14. April 2025
Quantum physics

When there is no reality without observation

Quantum research is not just changing our technological reality, but also our conception of reality itself. Časlav Brukner, quantum physicist at the University of Vienna, explains why we simply cannot speak of an existing reality prior to observation. What does this bizarre outcome mean for the nature of physical reality? Philosopher Anne Sophie Meincke offers some clues.
2. April 2025
100 years of quantum research at the University of Vienna

The entanglement of physics and philosophy

The most successful theory of the present day, quantum physics is everywhere. To mark the 100th anniversary of this discipline, Rudolphina looks back at how researchers at the University of Vienna have shaped quantum research over the years – and continue to do so today.
19. March 2025
Semester question

New game, new rules: How does quantum research change our reality?

In the bizarre quantum world, different rules seem to apply than those in everyday life. Yet, we make use of its curious tricks every day – whenever we glance at our smartphone, scan items at the self-check-out till at the supermarket or use GPS for navigation. What will be possible once the last unsolved riddles of quantum mechanics are solved?
3. September 2024
Summer City Trip

"It smells of Vienna"

Let us follow our noses through the city: We talk to historian Julia Gebke and aerosol physicist Bernadett Weinzierl about the most emotional one of our senses, explore the iconic smells of the Ottakring district and take a deep breath at the Gürtel beltway, where the air is better than its reputation.
31. January 2024
Quantum entanglement in bent space

Between gravity and the quantum world

Physicists in the team of Philip Walther at the University of Vienna investigate how gravity works in the bizarre realm of quantum physics. Watch the video for a glimpse into their lab and their ambitions and read on to learn about a new precision experiment on the influence of gravity on quantum entanglement.
11. January 2024
Guest article by
Sofia Kantorovich
Rudolphina Experts: New materials in medicine

Nanomagnets to fight cancer

Most drugs work best when directly brought to the place in the body where they are needed. Physicist Sofia Kantorovich explains how nanoscale magnets could lead to better therapies for conditions such as cancer.
22. November 2023
Presenting… Physicist Sabri Koraltan

Tiny tornados for storing data

Have you ever wondered how your car knows how fast its wheels are turning? Or how your smart watch still saves all your data even when out of battery? This is where magnetic materials come into play, materials researched and developed by the physicist Sabri Koraltan at the University of Vienna.
16. November 2023
Materials of the future

Cell tissue: The complex machinery of life

In the Rudolphina series "Materials of the future", physicist Roberto Cerbino, who is specialising in soft condensed matter, gives insights into cell tissue, a true "material of life".
25. October 2023
Physics of DNA material

Glue and stacks: The secrets of DNA ring polymers

A research team at the University of Vienna tries to unravel the physical principles behind ring-shaped polymers. These fascinating natural structures have promising properties that could be exploited in future soft and stretchy materials for use in flexible electronics or soft robotics.
23. October 2023
Materials of the future

Stable, inexpensive and exotic: 2D crystals in a graphene sandwich

Scientists from the University of Vienna present exciting "materials of the future": Physicist Kimmo Mustonen starts by explaining how to grow crystals between sheets of graphene and what makes this "sandwich" so special.
11. October 2023
New Materials

What the future is made of

New materials are considered very promising for solving the acute challenges of our time, but they also create new problems. We take a closer look at those materials that have shaped us and those that are yet to come.
3. October 2023
Nobel Prize in Physics

Nobel Prize for Anton Zeilinger and his revolutionary "crazy ideas"

The Nobel Prize awarded to quantum physicist Anton Zeilinger is certainly a highlight of an extraordinary scientific career. Here you can read and watch a compilation of content relating to the Nobel Prize - from videos and photo reports to interviews and background information.
22. December 2022
Cosmology meets data science

After the Big Bang …

What happened after the Big Bang? Astrophysicist Oliver Hahn is tracing our universe's early development by using supercomputers and clever algorithms. To find out more, our video team visited Oliver Hahn at the Department of Astrophysics of the University of Vienna.
13. December 2022
Audimax Podcast with Anne-Catherine de la Hamette and Lee Rozema

Working on questioning essentially everything

Quantum physicists Anne-Catherine de la Hamette and Lee Rozema work on challenging the fundamental principles of physics and how we think of our everyday life. In this podcast, they talk about their work life: They discuss how experimentalists and theoreticians are entangled, how they deal with their own uncertainties and the current trajectories of their fields.
7. December 2022
Presenting... Experimental physicist Iurie Coroli

Quantum mechanics of mesoscopic objects

Iurie Coroli, PhD candidate at the Vienna Doctoral School in Physics, investigates quantum properties of so called "mesoscopic objects”, a scale between microscopic atoms and macroscopic everyday objects. Together with his team the experimental physicist builds a system using a high powerful laser beam to study the regime of quantum mechanics, as he explains in the video.
29. November 2022
Quantum Physics

Researching the Quantum World: What our universe is built of

At the University of Vienna, quantum physicists from different countries, ages and career levels, have one thing in common: Genuinely curious, they try to understand the fundamental building blocks of the universe. In the video, three researchers from the research group Quantum Optics, Quantum Nanophysics and Quantum Information tell us what drives them and take us on a tour of their workplace.
12. September 2022
A new interdisciplinary PhD programme

Physics and biology unite to study separation

A new phenomenon has taken the world of cell biology by storm, but its study requires people with a deep understanding of physics and biology. The University of Vienna offers a new PhD programme to nurse a new generation of researchers with the ability to think creatively in both fields.