The physicist Dr. Florian Marquardt will receive the „Walter-Schottky-Preis“ endowed with 15000 Euros for theoretical work on the light induced manipulation of microscopic objects. Light is able to apply mechanical forces on very small objects, affect their temperature and even cool them. With the optomechanical systems studied by Marquardt it becomes possible to sound out the transition between the quantum and the macroscopic world. Hence they are of principal interest for the fundamental research. The main question is: when do small objects lose their quantum mechanical properties and when do quantum phenomena appear in large objects? Florian Marquardt has provided important contributions to this new research area. He leads an Emmy Noether research group at the Arnold Sommerfeld Center for Theoretical Physics in Munich.

 Press release of the German Physical Society DPG

 Homepage of Florian Marquardt