News

April 2025

Discussion with Laurent SANCHEZ-PALENCIA about the quantum strategy on the IPParis campus published on the website of the Institut Polytechnique de Paris

April 2025

Our paper about the construction of tight-biding models in optical moiré potentials appeared in the Physical Review A.

D. Johnstone, S. Mishra, Z. Zhu, and L. Sanchez-Palencia, "Effective tight-binding models in optical moiré potentials", Phys. Rev. A 111, 043305 (2025)

April 2025

An article on the Ecole Polytechnique website features an interview with Laurent SANCHEZ-PALENCIA about the 'second quantum revolution' in our labs.

December 2024

Our letter on bosonic matter in twisted optical potentials appeared in the Physical Review Research.

D. Johnstone, S. Mishra, Z. Zhu, H. Yao, and L. Sanchez-Palencia, "Weak superfluidity in twisted optical potentials", Phys. Rev. Res. 6, L042066 (2024)

September 2024

Our recent work on disorder-induced delocalization in a Lieb-Liniger gas is now published in the Physical Review Letters. It was led in collaboration with our colleagues and friends at LENS (Florence, Italy) and Geneva (Switzerland).

H. Yao, L. Tanzi, L. Sanchez-Palencia, T. Giamarchi, G. Modugno, and C. D'Errico, "Mott transition for a Lieb-Liniger gas in a shallow quasiperiodic potential: Delocalization induced by disorder", Phys. Rev. Lett. 133, 123401 (2024)

See also synopsis by Charles Day in Physics "Disorder induces delocalization", Physics 17, s112 (2024).

September 2024

Yifei WANG starts her lab research project with us. Welcome Yifei!

April 2024

Xiaoxu ZHOU joins back the group for her second internship with us. Welcome back Xiaoxu!

February 2024

Zhaoxuan ZHU successfully defended his PhD thesis. Congratulations Dr. Zhu!

January 2024

Joint meeting DTU-IP Paris

We discuss quantum activities in our institutions. Laurent SANCHEZ-PALENCIA presents the quantum activities at IP Paris.

January 2024

Shanya MISHRA joins the group for her Bachelor thesis. Welcome Shanya!

December 2023

Round table Quantum computing, between promise and technological challenges

The event is co-organized by the Binet QuantX, Quantum-Saclay, and the Physics Department of Ecole polytechnique. Michel DYAKONOV, Xavier WAINTAL, and Thomas AYRAL discuss the challenges of quantum computing. The discussion is moderated by Laurent SANCHEZ-PALENCIA.

November 2023

Opening of the International Conference on Quantum Simulation at Ecole Polytechnique

The International Conference on Quantum Simulation, organized by the DIM QuanTiP and Quantum-Saclay opens at Ecole Polytechnique from Nov. 13th to 17th. Jérôme BEUGNON (LKB, Collège de France) and Laurent SANCHEZ-PALENCIA (CPHT, Ecole Polytechnique) are the directors. Further information at https://icqsim2023.sciencesconf.org/.

October 2023

Shengjie YU joins the group as a PhD student. Welcome Shengjie!

June 2023

Laurent SANCHEZ-PALENCIA talks about the research in the group and how Ecole Polytechnique contributes to the accelation of quantum technologies in an interview at Polytechnique Insights

May 2023

Our recent work on the thermodynamic phase diagram of bosonic quantum quasicrystals is now published in the Physical Review Letters

Z. Zhu, H. Yao, and L. Sanchez-Palencia, "Thermodynamic phase diagram of two-dimensional bosons in a quasicrystal potential", Phys. Rev. Lett.130, 220402 (2023)

November 2022

Dean JOHNSTONE joins the group as a Post-Doc researcher. Welcome Dean!

September 2022

Jan SCHNEIDER successfully defended his PhD thesis. Congratulations Dr. Schneider!

July 2022

Our work on entanglement spectrum in long-range system is now published in Physical Review B

J. T. Schneider, S. J. Thomson, and L. Sanchez-Palencia, "Entanglement spectrum and quantum phase diagram of the long-range XXZ chain", Phys. Rev. B106, 014306 (2022)

August 2021

Our joint works on quantum quench spectroscopy of disordered systems is now published in the Physical Review A (Letter + regular article)

L. Villa, S. J. Thomson, and L. Sanchez-Palencia, "Quench spectroscopy of a disordered quantum system", Phys. Rev. A104, L021301 (2021)

L. Villa, S. J. Thomson, and L. Sanchez-Palencia, "Finding the phase diagram of strongly correlated disordered bosons using quantum quenches", Phys. Rev. A104, 023323 (2021)

July 2021

Louis VILLA successfully defended his PhD thesis. Congratulations Dr. Villa!

March 2021

Our work on quantum quasicrystals is now published in the Physical Review Letters

R. Gautier, H. Yao, and L. Sanchez-Palencia, "Strongly interacting bosons in a two-dimensional quasicrystal lattice", Phys. Rev. Lett.126, 110401 (2021)

March 2021

Our work on the spreading of quantum correlations and entanglement in long-range systems is published as a letter in Physical Review Research

J. T. Schneider, J. Despres, S. J. Thomson, L. Tagliacozzo, and L. Sanchez-Palencia, "Spreading of correlations and entanglement in the long-range transverse Ising chain", Phys. Rev. Research3, L012022 (2021)

October 2020

Zhaoxuan ZHU joins the group as a PhD student. Welcome Zhaoxuan!

October 2020

Hepeng YAO successfully defended his PhD thesis. Congratulations Dr. Yao!

August 2020

Our paper on Bose glass and fractal Mott phases in Lieb-Liniger gases appears on the Physical Review Letters

H. Yao, T. Giamarchi, and L. Sanchez-Palencia, "Lieb-Liniger Bosons in a shallow quasiperiodic potential: Bose glass phase and fractal Mott lobes", Phys. Rev. Lett. 125, 060401 (2020)

May 2020

Hepeng YAO wins the CSC award for outstanding self-financed students abroad. Congratulations Hepeng!

December 2019

Julien DESPRES successfully defended his PhD thesis. Congratulations Dr. Despres!

November 2019

Steven THOMSON joins the group as a Post-Doc researcher. Welcome Steven!

August 2019

Our paper on the criticality and fractality in quasi-periodic potentials appears on the Physical Review Letters

H. Yao, H. Khouldi, L. Bresque, and L. Sanchez-Palencia, "Critical behavior and fractality in shallow one-dimensional quasi-periodic potentials", Phys. Rev. Lett. 123, 070405 (2019)

July 2019

Opening of the summer school Dynamics and Disorder in Interacting Quantum Many-Body Systems far from Equilibrium


The Summer School, organized by Dmitry Abanin, Laurent Sanchez-Palencia, and Marco Schiro, is now open. It is one of two long schools (1 month) organized in Les Houches during the summer of 2019. The non-equilibrium dynamics of correlated quantum systems is currently one of the most active in quantum matter physics, at the interface of condensed matter, atomic physics, statistical physics, and complex systems. The experimental and theoretical progress of recent years has revolutionized this field with considerable challenges for quantum technologies. Lectures will be delivered by internationally renowned teachers: Fabien Alet, Immanuel Bloch, Leticia Cugliandolo, Eugene Demler, Thierry Giamarchi, Mikhail Lukin, Subir Sachdev, Laurent Sanchez-Palencia, Jon Simon, Frank Verstraete, and Peter Zoller. They will train a new generation of promising students and young researchers to this emerging field.


Further information at https://leshouchesquantumdynamics.wordpress.com/.

March 2019

Our paper on the scattering of matter waves in disordered potentials appears on the Physical Review Letters

J. Richard, L.-K. Lim, V. Denechaud, V.V Volchkov, B. Lecoutre, M. Musawwadah, F. Jendrzejewski, A. Aspect, A. Signoles, L. Sanchez-Palencia, and V. Josse, "Elastic Scattering Time of Matter Waves in Disordered Potentials", Phys. Rev. Lett. 122, 100403 (2019)

March 2019

Our paper on twofold spreading of correlations in the Bose-Hubbard model appears on Scientific Reports (see paper on the Nature group website)


J. Despres, L. Villa, and L. Sanchez-Palencia, "Twofold correlation spreading in a strongly correlated lattice Bose gas", Sci. Rep. 9, 4135 (2019)

November 2018

Our paper on the Tan contact in trapped Lieb-Liniger gases appears on the Physical Review Letters


H. Yao, D. Clement, A. Minguzzi, P. Vignolo, and L. Sanchez-Palencia, "Tan's contact for trapped Lieb-Liniger bosons at finite temperature", Phys. Rev. Lett. 121, 220402 (2018)

November 2018

Special issue on Quantum Simulation


A special issue on quantum simulation, coordinated by Prof. Laurent Sanchez-Palencia, appeared this month on the Comptes-Rendus de Physique of the French Academy of Sciences.


Envisioned by Richard Feynman in the early 1980s, quantum simulation has received dramatic impetus thanks to the de- velopment of a variety of plateforms able to emulate a wide class of quantum Hamiltonians. During the past decade, most of the quantum simulators have implemented rather well-known models, hence permitting a direct comparison with theoretical calculations and a precise benchmarking of their reliability. The field has now reached a maturity such that one can address difficult problems, which cannot be solved efficiently using classical algorithms. These advances provide unprece- dented opportunities to explore previously unreachable fields, test theoretical predictions, and inspire novel approaches.


The special issue makes a point on recent advances of the field and discusses perspectives via a selection of contributions in various areas from ultracold atoms and quantum optics to statistical physics and condensed matter.



July 2018

Our paper on universal scaling laws for correlation spreading in quantum systems is selected as an editors' suggestion on Physical Review B


L. Cevolani, J. Despres, G. Carleo, L. Tagliacozzo, and L. Sanchez-Palencia, "Universal scaling laws for correlation spreading in quantum systems with short- and long-range interactions", Phys. Rev. B 98, 024302 (2018)

January 2018

Our paper on algebraic localization in biased disorder is selected as an editors' suggestion on Physical Review A


C. Crosnier de Bellaistre, C. Trefzger, A. Aspect, A. Georges, and L. Sanchez-Palencia, "Expansion of a matter wave packet in a one-dimensional disordered potential in the presence of a uniform bias force", Phys. Rev. A 97, 013613 (2018)

August 2017

Our paper on continuous-space many-body dynamics is published on Physical Review X


G. Carleo, L. Cevolani, L. Sanchez-Palencia, and Markus Holzmann, "Unitary dynamics of strongly-interacting Bose gases with time-dependent variational Monte Carlo in continuous space", Phys. Rev. X 7, 031026 (2017)

July 2017

Quantum Engineering at University Paris-Saclay

Annoucement: The IQUPS* network organizes a series of introductory lectures on Quantum Engineering. They are open to Master students, PhD students, Post-docs, and researchers. The second series will combine on each Wednesday morning of September 27, October 4, 18, and 25, 2017 one course on NV Color Centers in Diamond (NVCD) and one course on Quantum Optics of Many-Body Systems (QOMB). The ensemble of the two lectures is eligible as a complement of initial education for students from the Ecole Doctorale Ondes et Matiere (EDOM) and the Ecole Doctorale Physique en Ile-de-France (EDPIF).

Second series:
____- NV Color Centers in Diamond: Physics and Applications (Jean-François ROCH)
____- Quantum Optics of Many-Body Systems (Igor MEKHOV)

Further information on the annoucement poster

* Ingenierie Quantique a l'Universite Paris-Saclay (Quantum Engineering at University Parsi Saclay)

April 2017

Our paper on conductance in disordered wires is published as a rapid communication on Physical Review B


C. Crosnier de Bellaistre, A. Aspect, A. Georges, and L. Sanchez-Palencia, "Effect of a bias field on disordered wave guides: Universal scaling of conductance and application to ultracold atoms", Phys. Rev. B 95, 140201(R) (2017)

March 2017

Quantum Engineering at University Paris-Saclay


Annoucement: The IQUPS* network organizes a series of introductory lectures on Quantum Engineering. They are open to Master students, PhD students, Post-docs, and researchers. The first series will combine on each Tuesday morning of March 2017 one course of Optical Quantum Engineering (OQE) and one course of Electrical Quantum Engineering (EQE). The ensemble of the two lectures is eligible as a complement of initial education for students from the Ecole Doctorale Ondes et Matiere (EDOM) and the Ecole Doctorale Physique en Ile-de-France (EDPIF).

First series:
____- Optical quantum engineering (Philippe GRANGIER)
____- Electrical quantum engineering (Patrice BERTET and Reinier HEERES)

Further information on the annoucement poster

* Ingenierie Quantique a l'Universite Paris-Saclay (Quantum Engineering at University Parsi Saclay)

February 2016

Summer school Disorder in Condensed Matter and Ultracold Atoms


Annoucement: The Summer School, organized by Thierry Giamarchi, Giacomo Roati, and Laurent Sanchez-Palencia, will take place at the Institut d'Etudes Scientifiques de Cargese. It is located on the west cost of the beautiful Corsica island in the south of France, near by the city of Ajaccio. The place enjoins a great landscape and a direct access to the sea. The wheather is usually fantastic in June and July.

Important dates:
____- Opening of applications: Mon, 8 Feb 2016
____- Deadline for application: Thu, 31 March 2015
____- Notification of acceptance: Mid-April
____- Deadline for registration: End of May

Further information at http://dcmua2016.sciencesconf.org/.

January 2016

Our paper on the Mott transition in shallow periodic lattices is published as a rapid communication on Physical Review A


G. Boéris, L. Gori, M.D. Hoogerland, A. Kumar, E. Lucioni, L. Tanzi, M. Inguscio, T. Giamarchi, C. D'Errico, G. Carleo, G. Modugno, and L. Sanchez-Palencia, "Mott transition for strongly-interacting one-dimensional bosons in a shallow periodic potential", Phys. Rev. A 93, 011601(R) (2016)

October 2015

Samuel LELLOUCH is awarded the 2015 PhD thesis prize jointly from IFRAF and GDR on Cold Atoms


Samuel Lellocuh has been awarded the 2015 PhD thesis prize from the French Institute of Research on Cold Atoms (IFRAF) and the Research Network on Cold Atoms for his work on . Click on text to read Samuel's PhD manuscript.

October 2015

Our paper on the correlation spreading in long-range quantum systems is published as a rapid communication on Physical Review A


L. Cevolani, G. Carleo, and L. Sanchez-Palencia, "Protected quasi-locality in quantum systems with long-range interactions", Phys. Rev. A 92, 041603(R) (2015)

July 2015

A News and Views piece by L. Sanchez-Palencia published is Nature Physics.


L. Sanchez-Palencia, "At the edge of mobility", Nat. Phys. 11, 525 (2015)

December 2014

Our paper on localization of interacting Bose superfluids in quasiperiodic lattices is published as a rapid communication on Physical Review A


S. Lellouch and L. Sanchez-Palencia, "Localization transition in weakly-interacting Bose superfluids in one-dimensional quasiperdiodic lattices", Phys. Rev. A 90, 061602(R) (2014)

June 2014

Marie PIRAUD is awarded the PhD thesis prize in physics of University Paris Sud


Marie Piraud has been awarded the 2014 PhD thesis prize in physics of the EDOM Graduate School of University Paris Sud for her work on Anderson localization of matter waves in correlated disorder: From 1D to 3D. Click on text to read Marie's PhD manuscript.

March 2014

Our paper on the light cone effect in 1D and 2D Bose-Hubbard models is published as a rapid communication on Physical Review A


G. Carleo, F. Becca, L. Sanchez-Palencia, S. Sorella, and M. Fabrizio, "Light-cone effect and supersonic correlations in one- and two-dimensional bosonic superfluids", Phys. Rev. A 89, 031602(R) (2014)

August 2013

Our paper on the universality of the BKT transition in dirty Bose gases is published on Physical Review Letters


G. Carleo, G. Boeris, M. Holzmann, and L. Sanchez-Palencia, "Universal superfluid transition and transport properties of two-dimensional dirty bosons", Phys. Rev. Lett. 111, 050406 (2013)

July 2013

Giuseppe CARLEO is awarded a Marie Curie fellowship


Giuseppe Carleo has been awarded a Marie Curie fellowship from the European Union. He will work in the group on the dynamics of strongly correlated quantum systems.

June 2013

Marie PIRAUD is awarded the poster prize at DCMUA2013


Marie Piraud has been awarded the best poster presentation at the conference Disorder in Condensed Matter and Ultracold Atoms (Varennna, Italy; 2013). Two prizes, sponsored by EuroPhysics Letters, have been given by Graeme Watt, executive editor of Europhysics Letters. The committee was made of Tilman Esslinger and Thierry Giamarchi.

September 2012

Our paper on Anderson localization in 3D speckle potentials is published on Europhysics Letters


M. Piraud, L. Pezze, and L. Sanchez-Palencia, "Matter wave transport and Anderson localization in anisotropic 3D disorder", Europhys. Lett. 99, 50003 (2012)

March 2012

Our paper on Three-dimensional localization of ultracold atoms is published on Nature Physics


F. Jendrzejewski, A. Bernard, K. Mueller, P. Cheinet, V. Josse, M. Piraud, L. Pezze, L. Sanchez-Palencia, A. Aspect, and P. Bouyer, "Three-dimensional localization of ultracold atoms in an optical disordered potential", Nat. Phys. 8, 398 (2012)