Dr. Riccardo Pennetta from the Institute of Applied Physics at the University of Bonn has received an ERC Starting Grant for his research project “Atom-by-atom assembly of QUantum MattEr in waveguide and cavity QED” (AQUME). For his project, he will receive around 1.5 million euros over five years from the ERC.
With his project, Riccardo Pennetta aims to extend the experimental study and manipulation of individual quantum systems to a larger scale. His team will develop experimental tools to individually control thousands of atoms simultaneously and create strong interactions between them using photons propagating in nanophotonic waveguides. The project is focused on fundamental research and aims to realize large systems whose properties are controlled by quantum mechanics. The results could eventually find applications in quantum communication, for example in a “quantum internet” in which users exchange information based on the principles of quantum mechanics.
Riccardo Pennetta completed his Master’s degree in Physics at the University of Bari in Italy before obtaining his doctorate in 2019 at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light and Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg. He subsequently conducted research as a postdoctoral researcher at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. In 2024, he spent time as a Visiting Postdoctoral Research Associate at Princeton University in the USA. Since July 2026, he has been working at the Institute of Applied Physics at the University of Bonn.
Congratulations, Riccardo!
The University of Bonn announced the awarding of the ERC Starting Grant on September 3, 2026.
Please also see the current announcement from the University of Bonn.