The Group

Prof. Yiwen Chu, group leader

After doing my undergraduate studies at MIT, I moved down the street to Harvard, where I did my PhD studying quantum optics with nitrogen-vacancy centers in the group of Prof. Mikhail Lukin. Wanting to try out a different quantum system, I worked on circuit QED as a postdoc in the group of Prof. Rob Schoelkopf at Yale. Through collaborations with the group of Prof. Peter Rakich (also at Yale), I also added quantum acoustics and optomechanics to my repertoire.

Office: HPF F9, phone: +41 44 633 81 50,  email:

Dr. Matteo Fadel, Branco Weiss and SNSF Ambizione fellow

My passion for science led me to begin studying physics at the University of Padova (Italy). After a Master at ETH Zurich, I joined for my PhD the group of Prof. P. Treutlein in Basel, where I investigated multipartite quantum correlations in Bose-Einstein condensates. Afterwards, I stayed a bit longer in Basel to setup an experiment for the optical manipulation of the nuclear spin in Helium-3 gas, a system with week-long coherence time! Motivated by the interest in exploring quantum effects in macroscopic objects, and by a passion for experimental music, I joined the HyQu group with the dream of manipulating sound at the quantum level to explore the boundaries of quantum mechanics. Currently, I am also developing a bosonic quantum simulator using acoustic vibrations.

Office: HPF F10, phone: +41 44 633 30 38, email: fadelm(at)phys.ethz.ch

Dr. Rodrigo Benevides, Postdoc

After finishing my Engineering Physics degree and working for one year in a synchrotron light lab in my home country, I decided to come back to academia and pursue a Ph.D. in applied physics. My work was focused on integrated quantum optomechanics, in a split program between the University of Campinas, Brazil, with prof. Thiago Alegre and the Technical University of Delft, the Netherlands, with prof Simon Groeblacher. During that time, we were able to demonstrate the first quantum teleportation of a light state to an engineered acoustic mode. I finished my Ph.D. in June of 2021, and in September of the same year, I joined the Hybrid Quantum Systems group as a postdoc.

Office: HPF G3.1, phone: +41 44 633 41 50, email:

Dr. Samuel Pautrel, Postdoc

I did my undergrad studies at ESPCI Paris, France, where I studied physics, chemistry and biology for three years. Two internships, one on a JPA, the other on a squeezing-enhanced atomic clock confirmed my preference for physics. I specialized in condensed matter physics during a second year of master at ENS Paris. My interest in quantum optics and experimental challenges led me to apply for a PhD in quantum optomechanics with GaAs disk resonators in the group of Ivan Favero (Université Paris Cité), which I defended in November 2023. Wanting to keep working in the field of quantum acoustics and to explore ways of hybridizing phonons to other quantum degrees of freedom, I joined the group in January 2024.

Office: HPF G4.2, phone: +41 44 633 89 91, email: 

Simon Storz, Postdoc

During my physics studies at ETH Zürich, I developed a deep interest in the properties of quantum mechanics. This fascination led me to pursue a PhD in the Quantum Device Lab under Prof. Andreas Wallraff, focused on storing and manipulating quantum information using superconducting circuits. There, we successfully interconnected remote quantum circuits over distances up to 30 meters through a cryogenic microwave link. In this system, we demonstrated a loophole-free Bell test and applied the quantum-mechanical resource of non-locality to information processing. The compelling prospects of coupling superconducting circuits with phonons—both for fundamental physics and quantum information processing—motivated me to start a postdoctoral position in the Hybrid Quantum Systems Group in April 2024.

Office: HPF G4.2, phone: +41 44 633 89 91, email:

Chris Adambukulam, Postdoc

For my undergraduate degree, I studied electrical engineering at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia. My interest in quantum technologies began with an internship in the group of Prof. Andrea Morello concerning the electronic and nuclear spins of single donor atoms in silicon. After completing my undergraduate degree, I decided to do a PhD under the supervision of A/Prof. Arne Laucht and Prof. Andrea Morello, investigating the electronic and nuclear spin properties of single germanium vacancies in diamond. I was awarded my PhD in 2024, and following which, I decided expand my knowledge of quantum technologies by joining the HyQu group as a postdoc and studying the interactions between single spins and phonons.

Office: HPF G3.1, phone: +41 44 633 41 50, email:

Tom Schatteburg, Doctoral student

I did my Bachelor and consecutive Master in Interdisciplinary sciences at ETH, starting in the chemical division. After a semester project on chemical synthesis and my Bachelor thesis about time-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy, I shifted more towards quantum physics. Both my following semester and Master projects in the area of ion-trap physics in the group on Prof. Jonathan Home enhanced this interest. The promising approach to combine multiple quantum systems in order to exploit their individual advantages sparked my interest in the hybrid quantum systems group, which I joined in 2019.

Office: HPF G3.1, phone: +41 44 633 41 50, email:

Yu Yang, Doctoral student

In my bachelor period I worked on quantum sensing with NV-​centers at the University of Science and Technology of China in Professor Jiangfeng Du's group. I am doing my master at ETH and I want to go on studying and learning about quantum systems. So I joined the hybrid quantum systems group to do my master thesis in 2019. After my master thesis, I am really attracted by the group and the project, so I decide to stay in the group for my PhD. Right now I am working on the coupling between superconducting qubits and acoustic phonon modes.

Office: HPF F10,  phone: +41 44 633 30 38,  email:

Max Drimmer, Doctoral student

I dove into the field of optomechanics during my undergraduate studies at Stanford University, when I investigated a nanophotonic approach to surface acoustic wave sensing in the lab of Professor Amir Safavi-Naeini. Afterwards, I completed my master’s degree at TU Delft in 2020 where I continued my work by developing hybrid piezo-optomechanical systems for quantum-efficient wavelength conversion in the group of Professor Simon Gröblacher. Later in 2020 I started my PhD in the Hybrid Quantum Systems group. During my doctorate, I look forward to expanding quantum control of acoustic interactions.

Office: HPF G4.2,  phone: +41 44 633 89 91,  email:

Arianne Brooks, Doctoral student

Originally from mainland Denmark, I moved to Copenhagen to study physics at the University of Copenhagen in 2016. During an exchange programme at LMU in Munich I developed a passion for optics and laser physics, after which I joined the HyQ research centre at the Niels Bohr Institute in Copenhagen where I wrote both my bachelor and master thesis about applying near-infrared GaAs quantum dots for quantum information processing. Being highly interested in quantum technology advances in hybrid platforms, I joined the Hybrid Quantum Systems group at ETH in 2022 to do my PhD.

Office: HPF G4.1,  phone: +41 44 633 91 48,  email:

Stefano Marti, Doctoral student

Towards the end of my Bachelor's degree, I fell in love with quantum information. I therefore took as many related courses as possible, while completing both a theoretical semester project about two-photon emission in tunnel junctions and a practical project at the Quantum Optics group under supervision of Prof. Esslinger, implementing an image processing algorithm on a FPGA for laser beam stabilization. After this, I realized that I was highly motivated to learn about different kind of quantum systems and their interactions, which led me to conduct my master's thesis at the HyQu group, investigating in particular a radiation loss mechanism affecting qubit lifetimes. I was so fascinated by the interplay of systems that I went on and started my PhD beginning of January, continuing the work on cQAD.

Office: HPF G4.1,  phone: +41 44 633 91 48,  email:

Andraz Omahen, Doctoral student

I obtained my undergraduate degree in my hometown at the University of Ljubljana and came to ETH for my masters in Physics. During the course of my degree I explored various quantum systems by joining the groups of Prof. Andreas Wallraff and Prof. Jonathan Home for a semester project. Furthermore, I worked with bilayer graphene quantum dots for my masters thesis in the Ensslin group. Having explored different areas of quantum physics, I am eager to apply my knowledge and experience in the Hybrid Quantum Systems Group, where I started my PhD in March 2023.

Office: HPF F10,  phone: +41 44 633 30 38,  email:

Stefan Pfleging, Doctoral student

I gained my first experimental experience in the field of lithium-ion batteries within the frame of my job as student assistant, which I was able to start already in the first semester of my bachelor’s studies at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) in Germany. They were concluded by my thesis about Whispering Gallery Mode Resonators in the Group of Prof. Heinz Kalt. After addressing classical optics with this project, I got more interested in quantum optics and solid state physics during my master’s studies at KIT. This is why I decided to work for the thesis in the Group of Prof. Wolfgang Wernsdorfer on quantum emitters in hexagonal boron nitride and their Stark tuning at room and low temperature. After being able to control quantum emitters to a certain degree, it seemed logical to me to try to incorporate them in more complex systems, which is what I will try to accomplish during my PhD studies in Hybrid Quantum Systems Group, which I started in 2023.

Office: HPF G3.2,  phone: +41 44 633 91 48,  email:

Max-Emanuel Kern, Doctoral student

I started my studies in Engineering Science at TUM, in the wonderful city of Munich. I quickly realized that I was more passionated in the physics lectures and therefore pursued a Bachelor's degree in Physics at LMU alongside completing my Bachelor's in Engineering Science. Wanting to go more into experimental physics in my Master's degree, I returned to TUM for the Applied and Engineering Physics program. I conducted my thesis under the guidance of Prof. Pfleiderer, collaborating with a magnetic refrigeration cryostat start-up. Following the completion of my thesis, I had the great opportunity to spend a year in Tokyo working with Prof. Nakamura on laser-annealing of superconducting qubits. There, I also learned more about hybrid quantum systems and it helped me understand I had to pursue this topic further. With all these experiences combined, I eventually joined the HyQu group in August 2023, and I am thrilled to be here!

Office: HPF F10,  phone: +41 44 633 30 38,  email:

Igor Kladaric, Doctoral student

Having finished my electrical engineering bachelor studies in Zagreb, my home country's capital, I enrolled in the Quantum Engineering master's programme at ETH Zürich in 2020. During my studies here, I worked on optical trapping and cooling of nanoparticles in the ETH Photonics laboratory for my semester project, did an internship at QZabre on applications of NV center magnetometry, and explored transport properties of topological semimetals at IBM Zürich for my master thesis. Finally, after these vastly different experiences of applications in the field of quantum science, I decided to join the HyQu group in October 2023 to explore the quickly growing field of cQAD and am very excited to be a part of this team!

Office: HPF G4.3,  phone: +41 44 633 89 81,  email:

Raquel García Bellés, Doctoral student

I started my Bachelor's in Physics and Mathematics at the Autonomous University of Barcelona with the idea of becoming a pure mathematician that knows a bit about physics. However, halfway through my studies, I got catched by quantum physics and decided to change plans. During an exchange year at NTU in Singapore, I had the great opportunity to undertake a research project where I learnt about superconducting circuits, and I became fascinated by their many possible applications. After returning to Spain, I joined the group of Pol Forn-Díaz for an internship automating the calibration of qubits, and a Bachelor's thesis on adiabatic quantum computing. In 2021, I moved to Zürich to start a Master's in Quantum Engineering at ETH. I conducted my semester project and Master's thesis in the QuDev Laboratory of Prof. Andreas Wallraff, where I mainly worked on the fabrication of Josephson Junctions and the simulation and characterization of superconducting circuits. Now I am thrilled to join HyQu in March of 2024 for my PhD, where I will combine SC circuits and acoustic resonators!

Office: HPF G4.3,  phone: +41 44 633 89 81,  email:

Arne Geipel, Master thesis student

I received my Bachelor's degree in Physics from LMU Munich. For my Bachelor's project, I worked on a spatially incoherent light source for high-quality DMD potentials in Dr. Philipp Preiss' Atomic Quantum Matter group at MPQ. Impressed by the exceptional control of quantum systems at the level of individual atoms, I decided to pursue my Master's studies in Physics at ETH Zurich to further explore AMO physics and quantum information science. I carried out my semester project with the TIQI group, simulating the noise error budget for quantum error correction using GKP states. I joined the HyQu group for my Master’s thesis, where I will develop a 2D circuit architecture with tunable couplers to enable a direct phonon drive and explore the feasibility of generating phononic GKP states.

Dominic Barthlott, Master thesis student

My interest in technical applications and how they actually work motivated me to study electrical engineering at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). During my bachelor's studies, I worked as a research Intern at the University of Cambridge and at CERN where I was investigating the physical properties of superconducting magnets. These experiences sparked my fascination for the physics of electrical devices, especially in the quantum regime. I therefore started my master's degree in Quantum Engineering at ETH Zürich. During that, I worked as a research assistant at QuDev, where I helped to set up components for the cryostats, and as an intern at IBM researching HEMTs. Now, I am looking forward to gaining more experience in experimental quantum physics with my master's thesis in the Hybrid Quantum group. I will be continuing the work of fabricating and measuring double-sided HBARs to increase their coherence time and improve their selective coupling to phonons.

Isabelle Franzen, Master thesis student

During my Bachelor’s degree at ETH, I developed a strong interest in both Particle Physics and Quantum Theory and thus pursued both fields during my Master's. My passion for Quantum Theories and their application in Quantum Computing solidified over the course of my studies, which led to my decision to work as a research assistant and undertake a semester project in the Ion Trap Quantum Computing group. I am fascinated by the wide field of (hybrid) quantum systems and am therefore eager to broaden my understanding of quantum technologies in the HyQu group. In my Master’s thesis, I will be working on the preparation of non-classical states (such as GHZ and W states) using optimal control strategies.

Pietro Borghi, Master thesis student

Originally from Italy, I obtained my bachelor’s degree in Physics at University of Padova, before moving to Zürich for my master’s studies in Quantum Engineering. I first joined Hyqu in spring 2023 for my semester project, focusing on building an experiment to drive the phonon modes in the HBARs with a classical electric field. After that, I decided that I needed a short break from quantum sounds – not from quantum physics though – and I relocated twice: first, just a couple of floors downstairs to Prof. Andreas Wallraff’s Quantum Device Lab, to work with fluxonium superconducting qubits; then, to the other side of the English Channel to London quantum computing startup Quantum Motion, to learn about spin qubits in silicon quantum dots. I am now excited to be back to Hyqu for my Master’s thesis, and since I did not feel ready to leave spin qubits behind just yet, I’ll be working in the color centers subgroup on magnetically driving SiV- spin qubits in a diamond HBAR.

Luise Müller, Master thesis student

I completed my Bachelor’s degree in Physics at LMU Munich, where I conducted my thesis on confined excitons in perovskite quantum dots in the Photonics and Optoelectronics group led by Prof. Feldmann. I then moved to ETH Zurich for my Master’s in Physics, where I developed a strong interest in quantum information processing. During my semester project in Prof. Home’s TIQI group, I investigated the motional coherence of a single ion in a linear Paul trap. Through Prof. Chu’s Quantum Acoustics lecture, I became particularly interested in hybrid quantum systems. So I’m excited to join the HyQu group for my Master’s thesis, where I will explore how the superconducting qubit’s properties affect the HBAR resonator’s lifetime through the inverse Purcell effect.

Benjamin Neubauer, Master thesis student

After finishing my bachelor’s in my hometown Erlangen, I was thrilled to see new places and decided to continue my master’s at ETH Zurich. I conducted my semester project in Prof Esslinger’s Quantum Optics group, where I built a laser source for a magneto-optical trap. While this project on nonlinear optics was exciting, I was keen to delve into quantum systems for my master’s thesis. The opportunity to work on microwave to optical transduction in the HyQu group was particularly appealing, as it integrates multiple quantum systems across different frequency ranges. Especially the idea of a mechanical object existing in a quantum state of motion captured my imagination and fueled my interest.