Curriculum vitae - K-LAB - EPFL

TOBIAS J. KIPPENBERG CURRICULUM VITAE, MAY 2013
SCIENTIFIC ACCOMPLISHMENTS
As a Group Leader at the Max Planck Institute for Quantum Optics (Garching, Germany) and at EPFL
(Lausanne, Switzerland):
• Cavity Optomechanics: Laser cooling of mechanical modes. As head of an Independent Junior Research Group
leader, I demonstrated with my group in 2006 for the first time (simultaneously with the group of M.
Aspelmeyer and A. Heidmann) radiation pressure induced cooling of a micromechanical oscillator. This cooling
had been first predicted by Braginsky and Dykmann in 1977 and remained unexplored since then. In
collaboration with Prof. Zwerger (TUM) we have subsequently developed a quantum theory of the cooling
process which showed that ground state cooling is only possible in the resolved sideband regime, akin to the
atomic laser cooling case. In 2008 I demonstrated with my group the first optical resolved sideband cooling
experiment of a mechanical oscillator of any kind. These results have now become key early contributions field
of cavity optomechanics. In 2011 my group has demonstrated cooling of an oscillator to 1/3 ground state
occupation and demonstrated quantum coherent coupling between a mechanical mode and the light field.
[Phys. Rev. Lett., 99, No. 243905, (2006), Phys. Rev. Lett., 093901, 99 (2007), Phys. Rev. Lett., 101,
263602, (2008), Nature Physics 2009, Science (2010), Nature (2012)].
• Measurement of mechanical motion at the Standard Quantum Limit. In collaboration with Professor Kotthaus
and Eva Weig at the LMU Munich I have demonstrated with my research group a novel method to achieve
optomechanical coupling, using the near field of optical microresonators. Using this method we have achieved
in 2010 the first measurement of nanomechanical motion with an imprecision at the level of the level of the
standard quantum limit (SQL) and in subsequent work, we have been able to reduce the measurement
imprecision below this level. [Nature Physics 2008]
• Microresonator based frequency combs. As head of an Independent Max Planck Research Group I have
demonstrated that optical microresonators can generate optical frequency combs, and thereby opened a new
research area of optical microresonators. My group showed the first monolithic frequency comb generator,
based on Kerr nonlinearity parametric oscillations. Moreover my group has advanced significantly this
technique in various forms, demonstrating the first time phase stabilization of a microresonator frequency comb,
the generation of octave spanning spectra, an complete understanding of phase noise, the observation of solitons
and mid IR Kerr comb generation. Over the past years our results have led to a new research field devoted to
frequency comb generation with microresonators. [Nature, 450, 1214, Dec. 2007 and Nature News and Views
by S. Cundiff, Phys. Rev. Lett. 101, 053903 (2008), Nature Photonics (2012), Nature Communications
(2013), Science (2011)]
• Frequency comb based agile diode laser spectroscopy. As head of an Independent Junior Research Group I
demonstrated with my group a novel spectroscopy method for rapid acquisition of broadband spectra utilizing a
femtosecond laser frequency comb in combination with an frequency agile diode laser. [Nature Photonics
2009 and Nature Photonics News and Views by Shibli]
During dissertation and postdoctoral studies at the California Institute of Technology (Pasadena, USA):
• Ultralow threshold spherical microcavity Raman laser. I have demonstrated as a PhD student with my
colleagues for the first time a microcavity Raman laser with ultralow threshold employing a silica nanowire
made from telecommunication fiber coupled to a microsphere. [Nature, 415, 621-623, (2002)].
• Ultra-high-Q toroid cavities on a chip. I have demonstrated as a PhD student with my former colleagues a
novel chip-based (planar) toroid microcavity, with a Q-factor of more than 100 million – a four order of
magnitude improvement compared to other resonators. [Nature, Vol. 421, 925-929, (2003)].
• Radiation pressure induced mechanical oscillations of microcavities. During my postdoctoral studies I have
observed for the first time ever the radiation pressure dynamical backaction amplification of mechanical
motion. This dynamical back-action effect had been theoretically predicted by V.B. Braginksy more than three
decades ago, and is of fundamental importance in the context of the gravitational wave interferometer (LIGO).
[Phys. Rev. Lett, 95, 033901 (2005)]. This work has been influential to the entire field, as microresonators are
nowadays used in many leading experiments in the field.
- 3 -