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Dr. César Cabrera Córdova, an experimental physicist at the University of Hamburg, has been awarded a prestigious Starting Grant from the European Research Council (ERC), receiving €1.9 million to develop a new generation of quantum simulators. His project aims to uncover the fundamental mechanisms behind superconductivity and open new pathways toward future quantum technologies.
Since 2022, Dr. Cabrera Córdova has been pushing the frontiers of quantum research in Prof. Henning Moritz’s group at the Institute for Quantum Physics, and within the Cluster of Excellence “CUI: Advanced Imaging of Matter.” Alongside his research, Dr. Cabrera plays a key role in coordinating the CUI Graduate School.
Originally from San Luis Potosí, Mexico, Dr. Cabrera’s career has earned international recognition. Before moving to Hamburg, he worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics in Munich, where he developed a quantum gas microscope capable of imaging and manipulating individual atoms. He obtained his Ph.D. at ICFO – The Institute of Photonic Sciences in Barcelona, where he conducted pioneering experiments on quantum simulation with ultracold atoms in Spain.
His research focuses on ultracold atomic gases, systems cooled to temperatures near absolute zero, where quantum mechanics governs their behavior. In this regime, quantum effects dominate and new states of matter can emerge. By using these gases as quantum simulators, he can mimic and control the behavior of complex materials. This approach opens new ways to study strongly interacting systems and provides insights into extraordinary effects such as superconductivity, where electricity flows without any energy loss.
With the ERC grant, Dr. Cabrera will establish his own research team and investigate how long-range interactions between magnetic atoms create new types of superfluidity with topological features. Such systems act differently on their surface than inside and are highly resistant to disturbances—a characteristic that could make them useful for future quantum technologies.
“I am very excited about this ERC Grant,” says Dr. Cabrera. “Being selected for this grant is not only recognition of years of research and hard work. It also gives me the opportunity to build an experiment that, through novel techniques, will provide new insights into complex, quantum systems and push the boundaries of quantum simulation.”
The ERC Starting Grant is one of the most competitive research funding programs in Europe. It supports outstanding early-career scientists in establishing their own independent research groups and pursuing ambitious, high-risk projects with the potential for major scientific breakthroughs.
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