Quantum Materials beyond Equilibrium

15:15  Inaugural lecture Prof. A. Läuchli
15:55  Inaugural lecture Prof. Ch. Rüegg

Spins form well-defined lattices in many quantum materials and serve as model systems to study many-body states such as correlated quantum dimers, Luttinger liquids, or magnon Bose-Einstein condensates. Neutrons and photons are unique tools for high-precision studies of such states in and beyond equilibrium. I am fascinated by many-body quantum phenomena and their exploration and control using the exciting new opportunities that free electron lasers like SwissFEL and ultra-fast lasers e.g. at LACUS offer.

Bio
Prof. Dr Christian Rüegg (*1976) is Director of the Paul Scherrer Institut (PSI) and full professor of physics at ETH Zurich and EPF Lausanne and professor at the University of Geneva. He is a member of the ETH Board representing the four Research Institutes (PSI, Empa, WSL, Eawag).
Christian Rüegg comes from the canton of Aargau, studied physics at ETH Zurich and obtained his doctorate in 2005 at the Laboratory for Neutron Scattering at ETH Zurich and PSI. He then worked at the London Centre for Nanotechnology of University College London (UCL) and Imperial College London from 2005 to 2011. He was a Royal Society University Research Fellow and Assistant and Associate Professor at UCL. Between 2011 and 2016 he headed the Laboratory for Neutron Scattering and Imaging in the Research Division Neutrons and Muons at PSI and from 2017 to 2020 he was head of the division. Since April 2020, he has been leading PSI as director.

Christian Rüegg is a solid-state physicist working on quantum phenomena in magnetism. He has received prestigious science awards for his work, including the Lewy Bertaut Prize and the Nicholas Kurti Science Prize for Europe, as well as an ERC Grant. He played a decisive role in the use and further development of the instrumentation at large-scale research facilities in Switzerland and Europe, e.g. at the Swiss Spallation Neutron Source SINQ and at the European sources ILL and ESS and represents this field of research in numerous international committees. Furthermore, he represents PSI in important initiatives to promote innovation such as the Park Innovaare, Technopark Aargau and Switzerland Innovation.