The Center for Quantum Devices research: How to create, control, measure, and protect quantum coherence and entanglement in solid-state electronic devices are the main themes of QDev.
The organization
Professor Charles Marcus is the Director of QDev, collaborating with faculty members Jesper Nygård, Jens Paaske, Karsten Flensberg, Brian Møller Andersen, Saulius Vaitiekėnas. Morten Kjaergaard, Ferdinand Kuemmeth, Martin Leijnse, and Anasua Chatterjee.
QDev is a part of the Condensed Matter Physics section at the Niels Bohr Institute (NBI), Faculty of Science, at the University of Copenhagen. QDev faculty contributes significantly to physics teaching, and supervises bachelor’s and master’s projects.
The center was opened in 2012
With funding by a center-of-excellence grant from the Danish National Research Foundation (DNRF). The center is hosted by the Niels Bohr Institute (NBI) and situated in the H.C. Ørsted complex. Professor Charles M. Marcus was the first center leader when he moved to University of Copenhagen and accepted a chair as Villum Kahn Rasmussen Professor the same year.
Most center members are
Faculty members in the condensed matter physics division of NBI and we participate in the teaching and supervision at all levels.
We, however, also have QDev members who are faculty at Lund University and the Technical University of Denmark. For some period of time (2018-2021), QDev hosted Microsoft Quantum Lab and we joined forces with them on research on engineered topological superconductors and their potential application in topological quantum computing.
The research in the center
Evolves around quantum phenomena and electronic properties of nanostructures made of hybrid materials such as semiconductors, superconductors, and ferromagnetic insulators. A large part of the effort is devoted to investigation of development of solid-state qubits as candidates for the fundamental unit in future quantum computers. We work for example on design of spin qubit, superconducting qubits, and topological qubits.
The center was initiated thanks to the grant from DNRF (2012-2023) but has now funding from many sources, including The Villum Foundation, The Independent Research Fund Denmark, Novo Nordisk Foundations, ERC, The European commission, Carlsberg Foundation, and others. The Center for Quantum Devices is thus extremely strong and continues to be a leader in its research field.
The Danish National Research Foundation funded QDev from 2012-2023, creating a strong foundation to build upon. QDev will continue as a center and research collaboration amongst its members.
QDev faculty grants in 2025
- A.P. Møller Fonden: Establishment of a Center for Educational Quantum Advantage at the Niels Bohr Institute
- DFF Natur og Univers (FNU): Nonlocal and nonabelian degrees of freedom
- Digital Research Center Denmark: Automatic tuning of Spin-qubit arrays
- Directorate General Communications Networks (EU): IGNITE
- EISMEA: European Innovation Council SMEs: InsectNeuroNano
- EISMEA: European Innovation Council SMEs: FERROMON
- ERC Synergy Grant: NONLOCAL
- Eureka Eurostars: Electrical Connections of HIgh Density for the Next Age of Quantum Processors (ECHIDNA)
- Horizon Europe ERC Starting Grant: NovaDePro
- InnovationsFonden: Applied Quantum Computing Denmark (DanQ)
- InnovationsFonden: ECHIDNA
- InnovationsFonden: ConSpiQuOS
- Novo Nordisk Fonden: Solid-state quantum simulators for biochemistry (SolidQ)
- Novo Nordisk Fonden: Niels Bohr Quantum Science Laboratory for a Quantum-Ready Generation
- Novo Nordisk Fonden: Software for Quantum Design and Control
- Universität zu Köln: CRC 183
- US Army Research Office: New Hybrid Device Technology for Intrinsically Protected Superconducting Qubits
- Villum Fonden: Physics of Quantum Information Applications
- Villum Fonden: Flatband-land
- Villum Fonden: VKR Professorship
- Villum Fonden: Bosonic fractional quantum Hall effect in pattered hybrid lattices
- Villum Fonden: Synthesis and Exploration of Unconventional Superconductivity
Charles Marcus
Charlie Marcus is a Professor at the Niels Bohr Institute and University of Washington, Seattle. Charlie was raised in Sonoma, California, and studied at Stanford (undergraduate) and Harvard University (PhD). Before coming to Copenhagen in 2011, he also taught Physics at Stanford and Harvard. His research interests have varied over the years, from neural networks as a graduate student to quantum chaos and mesoscopic physics, nanotubes, graphene, nanowires, and more recently quantum information and qubits. Much of his research is now focused on the realization of non-abelian excitations in solid state systems, including superconductor-semiconductor hybrid structures and fractional quantum Hall systems. Charlie lives with his wife and two children in Seattle, travelling to Copenhagen for work with his reach group.
Karsten Flensberg
Karsten Flensberg works in the research group Solid State Physics and is a co-founder of Center for Quantum Devices (QDev). Karsten Flensberg works with theoretical many-body and solid-state physics in relation to quantum mechanic effects on nanostructures and superconductors - especially in context of quantum information systems and electron transport in molecular transistors and quantum dots.
Jesper Nygård
My activities cover mainly carbon nanomaterials and semiconductor nano wires grown in-house. When turned into electronic devices they enable investigations and control of quantum phenomena, our core QDev activity. Progress relies on the ability to optimise the microstructure of materials and interfaces, thus we keep one foot in materials science. Interestingly, our devices can also be useful in biosensing, molecular electronics and photovoltaics – we pursue some of these applications in the Nano-Science Center. My teaching covers quantum transport and solid state physics.
Jens Paaske
I work on theoretical many-body physics, with a strong emphasis on correlated electrons in solid state systems. This includes problems of quantum transport either in bulk materials or through low-dimensional nano-junctions such as wires, dots and single molecules. The intricate interplay between correlation, and non-equilibrium effects remains a central theme in my research, a good part of which is rooted in the experimental QDev activities.
Martin Leijnse
I am a theoretical condensed matter physicist primarily interested in nanoscale systems. On such small length scales, the physics is drastically different from what we know in our all-day life and is dominated by the laws of quantum mechanics. I investigate different ways of taking advantage of quantum mechanics to design for example electronic components with desirable properties.
Thomas Sand Jespersen
I am an associate professor working with experimental low temperature quantum transport at the Center for Quantum Devices. My research focuses on the physics of semiconductor nanowires couples to superconductors and on mesoscopic phenomena in strongly correlated electron systems emerging at the interfaces of complex oxide heterostructures.
Ferdinand Kuemmeth
My focus centers on practical quantum design and cryogenic electric manipulation and readout techniques. By choosing the material, geometry and boundary conditions, we create nanodevices with well/controlled, often surprising spin-electronic properties. Low-dimensional semiconductors such as nanowires and 2D electron gases challenge us to harness the role of spin-orbit coupling, type of confinement, and the interplay between conduction band, valence bands, and superconductivity.
Peter Krogstrup
Peter Krogstrup finished his PhD in physics in October of 2012, at the Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen. Today, he is working as a professor at QDev, as a part of the Microsoft Station Q project with a specific focus on growing nanowire crystals that not only can produce majorana particles, but also control them. His main research interests are the field between material science and quantum transport with an ambition to produce new materials for future quantum electronic applications. Currently, his focus is directed towards controlling the formation of heterostructure III-V/superconductor nanowires for topological superconductor devices.
Anasua Chatterjee
I work on small-scale quantum circuits, using high-frequency readout and control techniques to simulate and explore fundamental physical properties of matter. My research interests as an experimental physicist span the intertwined fields of fundamental condensed matter physics and quantum information. They include quantum simulation, superconductivity, light-matter interaction and spin qubit arrays. High-frequency techniques allow us to reach very short readout timescales, while machine learning algorithms open up new ways of exploring the properties of complex nanodevices.
Morten Kjaergaard
My research is focused on the use of superconducting quantum bits as a platform to investigate quantum algorithms, quantum fault-tolerance and quantum verification and validation protocols. Superconducting qubits are one of the few quantum computing modalities that support not only quantum device experiments but also quantum information experiments. We use them as a platform to study foundational questions related to quantum fault tolerance, generation and measurement of entanglement, efficient verification and validation protocols as well as small scale quantum algorithms and protocols.
Saulius Vaitiekėnas
I am an experimental condensed matter physicist primarily interested in novel phases in hybrid systems. Hybrid quantum materials allow for quantum phases that otherwise do not exist in nature. For instance, in hybrid systems comprised of ferromagnetic and superconducting components, competition to align electron spins or pair them into singlets can result in unconventional superconductivity with broken time-reversal symmetry. I design quantum devices based on such hybrid materials and use various transport techniques to explore the emerging complex ground states and corresponding electrical properties.
The Center for Quantum Devices is part of the Niels Bohr Institute and located in building 3 at the H.C. Ørsted, University of Copenhagen (Universitetsparken 5, 2100 Copenhagen).
Travelling from the Airport
By Public Transportation
The easiest way to get to QDev by public transportation from the airport is by metro. Take the M1 or M2 line to Kongens Nytorv and then switch to the M3 City Ring line. Get off at Vibenshus Rundel. Then it is a five minutes walk to QDev. If travelling from Copenhagen Central Station, take the M3 City Ring line. Tickets can be bought at the metro stations. You need a three-zone ticket from the airport but only a 2 zone ticket, when travelling in the city center. The ticket is valid on the metro, train and bus.
Traveling from Downtown/Nørreport
By Public Transportation:
Bus no. 150S, 184, 185 or 15E from Nørreport Station going north/west. Get off at Universitetsparken (5 minutes). The H. C. Ørsted Institute (Universitetsparken 5) is on your left hand.
The Center for Quantum Devices (QDev, for short) studies how to create, control, measure, and protect quantum coherence and entanglement in solid-state electronic devices.
The miniaturization and scaling of modern electronics, yielding billions of transistors on a chip, has a quantum analog in which quantum states of transistors are made to interact, and hence become entangled, with the specificity of a computer algorithm.
The general power of such a device to communicate, compute, measure, and simulate physical and chemical systems is unknown. From known examples where entanglement serves as a resource, one can expect rich and surprising phenomena to emerge from such a device, reflecting the large space of quantum states compared to the number of classical states.
Once entanglement is brought under control and becomes a resource, the technological harvest has the potential to revolutionize communication, information processing, and simulation of quantum mechanical systems from novel superconducting materials to biomolecules.
Spin Qubits and Quantum Dot Circuits
Interpreting controlled quantum systems as qubits connects problems of quantum coherence and entanglement to a set of fundamental questions connecting quantum mechanics and information science. In this context, sequences of operations that entangle pairs of quantum states constitute algorithms operating on information encoded into the quantum state of the system.
Quantum materials is a research field at the intersection of materials science, condensed matter physics, device engineering, and quantum information. Beyond traditional quantum materials such as unconventional superconductors and heavy fermion systems, the field has recently expanded to encompass topological quantum matter, two-dimensional materials and heterostructures, Floquet time crystals, as well as materials and devices designed for quantum computation with Majorana fermions.
Recent insights into the role of topology in condensed matter systems has led to remarkable predictions of new classes of materials and excitations in solids, most of which remain unverified by experiment. An interactive theory/experiment/materials program to create, identify, and control non-abelian particles in condensed matter will be a major focus of the Center.
The nanoscale materials and experimental techniques used in quantum devices are useful also for other areas in physics and nanotechnology. QDev research leads to new types of devices and fabrication schemes. Staff in the Center collaborate with other groups on advanced applications.
Superconducting qubits are a leading approach to building a quantum computer.1 Recent work has demonstrated systems with 50-100 qubits. The key element of a superconducting qubit is the nonlinear, nondissipative Josephson junction that is usually made from aluminum/aluminum oxide/aluminum layers.
students - bachelor’s, master’s and PhD
QDev faculty teach courses and supervise students in nanophysics, quantum nanoelectronics, condensed matter physics and other physics topics at the Niels Bohr Institute and Nano-Science Center, University of Copenhagen.
QDev hosts Danish and international students for long- or short-term studies and short-period visits.
Researchers at QDev supervise a range of projects. To find a project of interest, look through the Bachelor / Masters Project page.
Students are welcome to stop by QDev anytime to talk to potential supervisors.
The visitor program is an integral part of QDev. Visitors contribute to QDev science in a number of ways; they infuse ideas and stimulate activity, add their expertise to on-going projects, get inspired and develop projects.
QDev's visitor program invites collaborators and visitors to come to QDev for short and long stays. Suggestions for mini-workshops are also welcome.
Support
- Work space, internet access, and administrative support are offered to visitors.
- Visitors are supported by the QDev admin team who will help with all of the administrative aspects of the visit, including housing.
- The Housing Foundation now hosts the University Guest House, a terrific lodging solution for guests.
More information about the University Guest House can be found here >>
Contact QDev's admin (batista@nbi.ku.dk) to discuss visits.
Assistant Professor / Postdoctoral Positions
We are always looking for enthusiastic postdocs. Please contact QDev faculty to discuss current opportunities.
PhD Positions
We are always looking for enthusiastic students and PhDs. Please contact QDev faculty to discuss current opportunities.
Individual post doc support
The following funds support 1-3 years of funding for salary, in most cases, also for travel, computing and other expenses.
FP7 People - Marie Curie
These 2 year grants support salary (at a rate of 20-50% higher than a normal post doc salary!), travel and computing. MC Fellows require a senior scientist-in-charge at QDev. There are MC programs for post docs moving within Europe or moving toEuropefrom a non-EU country. Marie Curie Fellowship deadlines are typically early August; decisions are communicated in late-December.
Danish Council for Independent Research | Natural Sciences (FNU)
FNU supports 1-3 year post doc funding, including salary, travel and computing, and smaller projects. Individual post doc and Sapere Aude programs.
Carlsberg Foundation
Carlsberg supports 1-3 year post doc funding, including a standard amount to support travel and computing. Early October deadline.
Villum
The Villum Foundation supports post doc salary, for up to 5 years. Early July deadline.
Bachelor & Master Projects
Students - bachelor’s, master’s and PhD
QDev faculty teach courses and supervise students in nanophysics, quantum nanoelectronics, condensed matter physics and other physics topics at the Niels Bohr Institute and Nano-Science Center, University of Copenhagen.
QDev hosts Danish and international students for long- or short-term studies and short-period visits.
Researchers at QDev supervise a range of projects. To find a project of interest, look through the Bachelor / Masters Project page.
Students are welcome to stop by QDev anytime to talk to potential supervisors.
Center for Quantum Devices
Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen
H. C. Ørsted Institute (Building 3)
Universitetsparken 5, 2100 Copenhagen Ø.
Email: qdev@nbi.ku.dk
Press and public requests for interviews or talks:
Lena Jacobsen, Program Coordinator
Email: lena.jacobsen@nbi.ku.dk
Participating actively in public discourse and education is a priority at QDev. Research staff actively communicate their results, the relevance and importance of science and physics in particular, and they have been recognized for their contributions with numerous awards.