Christine Silberhorn (born 19 April 1974) is a German physicist specialising in quantum optics and a full professor at the Paderborn University. In 2011, Silberhorn was awarded the Leibniz Prize and was the youngest recipient of the 2.5 million Euro prize at that time.

Education

Born in

Nürnberg Nuremberg ( ; german: link=no, Nürnberg ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the second-largest city of the German state of Bavaria after its capital Munich, and its 518,370 (2019) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest ci ...

, Germany, Silberhorn studied mathematics and

physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...

Erlangen University Erlangen (; East Franconian: ''Erlang'', Bavarian: ''Erlanga'') is a Middle Franconian city in Bavaria, Germany. It is the seat of the administrative district Erlangen-Höchstadt (former administrative district Erlangen), and with 116,062 inhabi ...

(1993–1999) and completed her Ph.D. in 2003, with a dissertation in

quantum information science Quantum information science is an interdisciplinary field that seeks to understand the analysis, processing, and transmission of information using quantum mechanics principles. It combines the study of Information science with quantum effects in p ...

. She did postdoctoral work at Clarendon Laboratory of

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

and was a Junior Research Fellow of Wolfson College in Oxford in 2003–2004. In 2005 she joined the Max Planck Research Group "Optics, Information and Photonics" (now the

Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light The Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light (MPL) performs basic research in optical metrology, optical communication, new optical materials, plasmonics and nanophotonics and optical applications in biology and medicine. It is part of the M ...

) as the head of the junior research group "integrated quantum optics".

Career

In 2005, Silberhorn joined the Erlangen branch of the

Max Planck Institute for Quantum Optics The Max-Planck-Institute of Quantum Optics (abbreviation: MPQ; german: Max-Planck-Institut für Quantenoptik) is a part of the Max Planck Society which operates 87 research facilities in Germany. The institute is located in Garching, Germany, w ...

Garching, heading the Junior Research Group Integrated Quantum Optics until 2008. Upon foundation of the

Erlangen, she headed the Integrated Quantum Optics Group until 2010, completing her

habilitation Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in many European countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excellence in research, teaching and further education, usually including a ...

in 2008. Silberhorn is currently Chair for Integrated Quantum Optics at Paderborn University.

Research

Silberhorn's research is dedicated to novel optical technologies based on quantum optics, and light-based quantum systems for use in quantum communication and quantum information processing. She has contributed to the development of engineered quantum light sources using

integrated optics A photonic integrated circuit (PIC) or integrated optical circuit is a microchip containing two or more photonic components which form a functioning circuit. This technology detects, generates, transports, and processes light. Photonic integrated c ...

and ultrafast pulsed lasers, the implementation of multichannel

quantum networks Quantum networks form an important element of quantum computing and quantum communication systems. Quantum networks facilitate the transmission of information in the form of quantum bits, also called qubits, between physically separated quantum p ...

for photon counting and quantum simulations, and the realization of quantum communication systems with bright light. Silberhorn is best known for her role in leading a research project which developed photon translators for use in

quantum computing Quantum computing is a type of computation whose operations can harness the phenomena of quantum mechanics, such as superposition, interference, and entanglement. Devices that perform quantum computations are known as quantum computers. Though ...

and quantum communication. In 2016, the team that she ran jointly with professor

Thomas Zentgraf Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) Thomas is a common surname of English language, English, Welsh language, Welsh, Irish Language, Irish, Scottish Gaelic, Scottish, French Lan ...

was awarded the largest

European Research Council The European Research Council (ERC) is a public body for funding of scientific and technological research conducted within the European Union (EU). Established by the European Commission in 2007, the ERC is composed of an independent Scientific ...

grant for their research. In 2019, Silberhorn's team demonstrated the Hong-Ou-Mandel experiment on a single integrated photonic chip by creating, bunching and detecting two individual photons and integrating components of quantum photonics on a single chip.

Awards

Silberhorn's research on the quantum properties of light and the development of quantum devices has received worldwide recognition and numerous awards, including the Herta Sponer Prize of the

German Physical Society The German Physical Society (German: , DPG) is the oldest organisation of physicists. The DPG's worldwide membership is cited as 60,547, as of 2019, making it the largest physics society in the world. It holds an annual conference () and multiple ...

and the Medal of the

Werner von Siemens Ring The Werner von Siemens Ring (in German orthography, Werner-von-Siemens-Ring) is one of the highest awards for technical sciences in Germany. It has been awarded from 1916 to 1941 and since 1952 about every three years by the foundation ''Stiftung ...

Foundation in 2007, the

Heinz Maier-Leibnitz-Preis The Heinz Maier-Leibnitz-Preis (Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Prize), in honor and memory of the German physicist Heinz Maier-Leibnitz, is funded by the ''Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung'' (BMBF, German Ministry of Education and Research), and ...

in 2008 and the

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz-Prize The Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize (german: link=no, Förderpreis für deutsche Wissenschaftler im Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz-Programm der Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft), in short Leibniz Prize, is awarded by the German Research Foundation to ...

in 2011. For the latter, she was the youngest scientist to receive this award. In 2019, Silberhorn was named a Fellow of

The Optical Society Optica (formerly known as The Optical Society (OSA) and before that as the Optical Society of America) is a professional society of individuals and companies with an interest in optics and photonics. It publishes journals and organizes conference ...

. She has been a member of

Leopoldina Leopoldina may refer to: * Colônia Leopoldina, a Brazilian municipality in the state of Alagoa * Leopoldina, Minas Gerais, a Brazilian municipality in the state of Minas Gerais * Maria Leopoldina of Austria (1797-1826), consort of emperor Pedro I ...

, the national academy of Germany, since 2012.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Silberhorn, Christine Erlangen University alumni Scientists from Nuremberg German experimental physicists 1974 births Living people Members of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina Academic staff of Paderborn University Fellows of Optica (society) Women in optics German women physicists