Quantum Dynamics (QD)
Research
The goal of the Quantum Dynamics group is to find novel quantum phenomena that may occur in future quantum materials and designed nanosystems. The phenomena we have been interested in include superfluidity, superconductivity, topological phases of matter, Bose-Einstein condensation, lasing, and strong coupling between light and matter in the nanoscale.
In our condensed matter theory research, we have discovered that superconductivity in a flat energy band is connected to the quantum metric and has a lower bound given by a topological invariant, the Chern number. We continue to explore the role of quantum geometry in condensed matter physics, especially in superconductivity.
In our photonics research where we combine experiment and theory, we have experimentally observed strong coupling between dye molecules and plasmonic light modes. Arrays of metal nanoparticles offer us great opportunities for designing the band structure and the modes of light. We have observed Bose-Einstein condensation in such a plasmonic lattice, as well as dark-mode and quasicrystal lasing associated with topological charges.
We fabricate plasmonic lattices using nanolithography and measure their optical properties in our lab, which includes a femtosecond laser setup for studies of quantum dynamics.
In the theory work, we use both analytical approaches and advanced numerical methods, such as dynamical mean field theory.
The Quantum Dynamics group collaborates globally to achieve its goals. PÀivi TörmÀ leads two international research collaborations, which targets room temperature superconductivity, and which aims at efficient organic LEDs, and is the co-Director of the . We also participate in a Future Makers project developing optical control of spin waves for energy efficient computing. We belong to the within the Centre of Excellence Programme of the Research Council of Finland.
You can find below some of our publications, however click . You can also find below Media coverage which includes public-accessible descriptions of our work and Alumni showing where people from our group have proceeded.
Latest publications
Media coverage
- PÀivi TörmÀ received the Professor Theodor Homén Prize in Physics
- SuperC received major funding, see the news from Aalto University, , and .
- Future Makers project received major funding
K. Arjas, J.M. Taskinen, R. Heilmann, G. Salerno, and P. TörmÀ, Nature Communications 15, 9544 (2024)
Highlighted in Aalto School of Science News- Article about
- Kukka-Emilia Huhtinen received
, awarded by the Finnish Society of Sciences and Letters, and the Aalto School of Science dissertation award. Aalto News article about Kukka-Emilia Huhtinen's awards. - Eeli Lamponen received the MSc thesis award 2023
- SuperC 2033 project received major funding
- Grazia Salerno got the Academy of Finland Academy Research Fellowship
V. A.âJ. Pyykkönen, S. Peotta, and P. TörmĂ€, Phys. Rev. Lett. 130, 216003 (2023)
Selected as Editors' Suggestion in Physical Review Letters
Highlighted in- Antti Moilanen received the Photonics Finland Best Doctoral Thesis in
Photonics of the Year 2022 award
K.-E. Huhtinen, J. Herzog-Arbeitman, A. Chew, B.A. Bernevig, and P. TörmÀ, Phys. Rev. B 106, 014518 (2022)
Selected as Editors' Suggestion in Physical Review B- Antti Moilanen received the Aalto School of Science dissertation award 2021
- PÀivi TörmÀ obtained funding from the Future Makers program
F. Freire-Fernåndez, J. Cuerda, K. S. Daskalakis, S. Perumbilavil, J.-P. Martikainen, K. Arjas, P. TörmÀ, and S. van Dijken, Nature Photonics 16, 27 (2022)
Highlighted in and Aalto School of Science News.- The President of Finland granted a decoration (Knight, First Class, of
the Order of the White Rose of Finland) to PÀivi TörmÀ.
S. Peotta, F. Brange, A. Deger, T. Ojanen, and C. Flindt, Phys. Rev. X 11, 041018 (2021)
Highlighted in Aalto School of Science news.- PÀivi TörmÀ elected as a member of the Academia Europaea
- Jami Kinnunen received the Teacher of the Year 2021 prize
- Grazia Salerno awarded the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Fellowship.
- Blog by Antti Moilanen about his research visit to IBM ZĂŒrich (in Finnish):
- Aaro VÀkevÀinen received the Aalto School of Science dissertation award 2020
- Konstantinos Daskalakis got the ERC Starting Grant
- Sebastiano Peotta got the Academy of Finland fellowship
A.I. VĂ€kevĂ€inen, A.J. Moilanen, M. NeÄada, T.K. Hakala, K.S. Daskalakis, and P. TörmĂ€, Nature Comm. 11, 3139 (2020)
Highlighted in Aalto School of Science news.
C.âC.âN. Kuhn, S. Hoinka, I. Herrera, P. Dyke, J.âJ. Kinnunen, G.âM. Bruun, and C.âJ. Vale, Phys. Rev. Lett. 124, 150401 (2020)
Highlighted in .
P. Weinberg, M. Tylutki, J.M. Rönkkö, J. Westerholm, J.A. à ström, P. Manninen, P. TörmÀ, and A.W. Sandvik, Phys. Rev. Lett. 124, 090502 (2020)
Highlighted in Aalto School of Science news.
A. Julku, T. J. Peltonen, L. Liang, T. T. HeikkilÀ, and P. TörmÀ, Phys. Rev. B 101, 060505(R) (2020)
Highlighted in , and Aalto School of Science news.- Kukka-Emilia Huhtinen got the Aalto School of Science MSc thesis award 2018
- Jami Kinnunen received the Finnish Foundation for Technology Promotion teaching award 2019
- Tuomas Vanhala received the Aalto School of Science dissertation award 2019
- PÀivi TörmÀ received
- Jani-Petri Martikainen received the Best Physics Teaching 2018 prize
- PÀivi TörmÀ tells about .
K.S. Daskalakis, A.I. VÀkevÀinen, J.-P. Martikainen, T.K. Hakala, and P. TörmÀ Nano Letters 18, 2658 (2018)
Highlighted at Aalto School of Science news.
T.K. Hakala, A.J. Moilanen, A.I. VÀkevÀinen, R. Guo, J.-P. Martikainen, K.S. Daskalakis, H.T. Rekola, A. Julku, and P. TörmÀ Nature Physics 14, 739 (2018)
Highlighted at , Aalto School of Science news, , and .- Blog entry about PÀivi TörmÀ at (in Finnish)
- PÀivi TörmÀ tells about the Millennium Technology Prize and Designer Matter in
- Konstantinos Daskalakis awarded Marie SkĆodowska-Curie Fellowship for fabricating an organic polariton laser diode
T.K. Hakala, H.T. Rekola, A.I. VĂ€kevĂ€inen, J.-P. Martikainen, M. NeÄada, A.J. Moilanen,and P. TörmĂ€ Nature Comm. 8, 13687 (2017)
Highlighted at and Aalto School of Science news. See also- PÀivi TörmÀ appointed as
- Quantum dynamics group research highlighted in Helsingin Sanomat
- PÀivi TörmÀ appointed Academy Professor
- Sebastiano Peotta awarded Marie SkĆodowska-Curie Fellowship for studying flat-band superconductivity
- Jami Kinnunen received the Lecturer of the Year 2015 prize
S. Peotta and P. TörmÀ Nature Comm. 6, 8944 (2015)
Highlighted at Aalto School of Science news- Aalto University âGet to know professors: PĂ€ivi TörmĂ€â
- Aalto yliopisto âTutustu professoreihin: PĂ€ivi TörmĂ€â
M. Kataja, T.K. Hakala, A. Julku, M.J. Huttunen, S. van Dijken, and P. TörmÀ Nature Comm. 6, 7072 (2015)
Highlighted at Aalto School of Science news
P. TörmÀ and W.L. Barnes Reports on Progress in Physics 78, 013901 (2015), with video abstract
P. TörmÀ and K. Sengstock (Editors), Imperial College Press 2015- Miikka Heikkinen received the Best Physics Doctoral Dissertation of 2014 award of Aalto University
A.I. VÀkevÀinen, R.J. Moerland, H.T. Rekola, A.-P. Eskelinen, J.-P. Martikainen, D.-H. Kim, and P. TörmÀ Nano Lett. 14, 1721 (2014)- PÀivi TörmÀ received the Advanced Grant 2013
Research group members
Alumni
| Degree | Name | Current position |
|---|---|---|
| PhD(2025) | Kristian Arjas | Trinity College Dublin |
| PhD(2024) | Jani Taskinen | VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland |
| PhD(2024) | Ville Pyykkönen | UPM-Kymmene |
| PhD(2023) | Rebecca Heilmann-RÀmö | Aalto University |
| PhD(2023) | Kukka-Emilia Huhtinen | ETH ZĂŒrich |
| PhD(2021) | Antti Moilanen | University of Eastern Finland (ETH ZĂŒrich) |
| PhD(2020) | Marek NeÄada | University of Eastern Finland |
| PhD(2020) | Aleksi Julku | QuantrolOx (Aarhus University) |
| PhD(2020) | Aaro VÀkevÀinen | Imec, Finland (Microsoft HoloLens) |
| PhD(2018) | Rui Guo | Ajat |
| PhD(2018) | Tuomas Vanhala | Varian Medical Systems (Tampere University, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich) |
| PhD(2018) | Heikki Rekola | University of Eastern Finland (Tampere University) |
| PhD(2017) | Anne-Maria Visuri | Kipu Quantum (University of Bonn, University of Geneva) |
| PhD(2015) | Elmer Doggen | Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (CNRS, University of Toulouse) |
| PhD(2014) | Miikka Heikkinen | Accenture |
| PhD(2014) | Anna Korolyuk | Sanoma Oy |
| PhD(2013) | Antti-Pekka Eskelinen | Murata Electronics |
| PhD(2011) | Jussi Kajala | 3DBear (Tekes, Spinverse) |
| PhD(2010) | Mikko Leskinen | Biit Oy |
| PhD(2009) | Marcus Rinkiö | Murata Electronics |
| PhD(2009) | Tommi Hakala | University of Eastern Finland (Aalto University, Harvard University) |
| PhD(2009) | Anton Kuzyk | Aalto University (Max Plank Institute for Intelligent Systems, Stuttgart; Technische UniversitĂ€t MĂŒnchen) |
| PhD(2008) | Timo Koponen | Varian Medical Systems |
| PhD(2006) | Jami Kinnunen | Aalto University (JILA, Boulder) |
| PhD(2006) | Sampo Tuukkanen | Tampere University |
| PhD(2005) | Pasi Kivinen | Microsoft HoloLens (Murata Electronics) |
| PhD(2005) | Anu Huttunen | Nokia Research Center |
| PhD(2003) | Mirta Rodriguez | IRIS Research / Engineering / Technology (Instituto de Estructura de la Materia, Madrid; ICFO Barcelona; University of Oxford) |
| Postdoc | Grazia Salerno | University of Pisa |
| Postdoc | Javier Cuerda | Technische UniversitÀt Darmstadt |
| Postdoc | Lun-Hui Hu | Zhejiang University |
| Postdoc | Gabriel Topp | Dispelix |
| Postdoc | Pavel Kliuiev | Microsoft HoloLens |
| Postdoc | Konstantinos Daskalakis | University of Turku |
| Postdoc | Pramod Kumar | Dispelix (Aalto University) |
| Postdoc | Long Liang | Sichuan Normal University (Nordita, Stockholm; Aalto University) |
| Postdoc | Marek Tylutki | WrocĆaw University of Science and Technology (Warsaw University of Technology) |
| Postdoc | Jildou Baarsma | ASML Semiconductors |
| Postdoc | Arya Dhar | Visseiro Digital Healthcare (Leibniz University, Göethe-UniversitÀt Frankfurt) |
| Postdoc | Mikko Huttunen | Tampere University (University of Ottawa) |
| Postdoc | Stéphane Derom | Universite de Bourgogne |
| Postdoc | Shaoyu Yin | Zhejiang University of Technology (ZJUT) (University of Birmingham) |
| Postdoc | Lei Shi | Fudan University, China |
| Postdoc | Robert Moerland | Lumicks (TU Delft, The Netherlands) |
| Postdoc | Dong-Hee Kim | Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST), Korea |
| Postdoc | Alexander Itin | UniversitÀt Hamburg |
| Postdoc | Francesco Massel | University of Southeast Norway (University of JyvÀskylÀ, University of Helsinki) |
| Postdoc | Andreas Johansson | University of JyvÀskylÀ |
| Postdoc | Reza Bakhtiari | UniversitÀt Hamburg (Göethe-UniversitÀt Frankfurt) |
| Postdoc | Lars Melwyn Jensen | University of Copenhagen |
| Postdoc | Jani Martikainen | Aalto University (Nordic Institute for Theoretical Physics (NORDITA)) |
| Postdoc | Vesa Ruuska | |
| Postdoc | Jarmo Vanhanen | Lemi School |
| Senior researcher | Jussi Toppari | University of JyvÀskylÀ |
| MSc(2022) | Jaakko KÀhÀrÀ | University of Helsinki |
| MSc(2018) | Miika MÀkelÀ | SSF - Space Systems Finland |
| MSc(2018) | Antti Ranni | Lund University |
| MSc(2013) | Juha Kreula | Boston Consulting (University of Oxford) |
| MSc(2012) | Joel Lehikoinen | Kaiku Health |
| MSc(2010) | Olli Nummi | Fortum Nuclear Services |
| MSc(2009) | Kimmo Laitinen | University of Eastern Finland |
| MSc(2008) | Ville KotimÀki | JAMK University of Applied Sciences |
| MSc(2007) | Joni Pasanen | University of JyvÀskylÀ |
| MSc(2007) | Veikko Linko | Aalto University (Technische UniversitĂ€t MĂŒnchen) |
| MSc(2007) | Marina Timmermans (Zavodchikova) | Imec, Belgium (Aalto University) |
| MSc(2006) | Heli Lehtivuori | University of JyvÀskylÀ (Tampere University of Technology) |
| MSc(2006) | Lasse Hirviniemi | |
| MSc(2005) | Tomi Paananen | Heinrich Heine University of DĂŒsseldorf |
| MSc(2005) | Mikko Laitinen | University of JyvÀskylÀ |
| MSc(2004) | Jukka Elfström | Moventas Wind |
| MSc(2003) | Esa Tarkiainen | Enermet |
| MSc(2002) | Arto Javanainen | University of JyvÀskylÀ |
| MSc(2002) | Ossi Partanen | Nordic Semiconductor |