Originally from Germany, I studied physics at the University of St Andrews, Scotland. Throughout my degree I did a lot of internships to explore the many possible directions I could go into. After sorting through X Ray data from an old catalogue in my first year and setting up a temperature control element for a plasma source in my second year, I did an internship at Fermilab in my third year. There, my supervisor asked me to refine a detector simulation which was intended to measure the quantum mechanical properties of accelerated electrons. Even though the simulated experiment did not end up to beocome reality, it inspired my Masters’ thesis project which was entitled “Shaping Electron Wave Packets Using Phase and Amplitude Masks”. At this point I decided to continue in the direction of theoretical quantum physics, specifically the control of quantum objects.

I work as a PhD student in the groups of Prof Simone Montangero (University of Padua) and Prof Tommaso Calarco (Forschungszentrum Jülich/Univerity of Cologne). My project is concerned with the application of optimal control strategies to different processes and platforms throughout the growing field of quantum technologies. In that capacity I work with experimental groups in Ulm, Kaiserslautern and Vienna to test and ensure the applicability of my work.