Address

Hiring

I have flexible PhD and Master positions in my fermionic-quantum-gates lab. If you’re interested, please get in touch via Email.

Bio

I am working on quantum simulations of complex many-body systems with neutral atoms at nanokelvin temperatures. In particular, I am looking at the physics of strongly correlated electrons through experiments with fermionic lithium atoms in optical lattices. My research covers a range from analogue quantum simulations of the Hubbard model, via quantum gates in superlattices, to the development of a fermionic quantum computer funded by the European Research Council (ERC). My goal is to study phenomena related to high-temperature superconductivity by measuring high-order correlation functions in experiments with single-particle resolution.

I joined the University of Strathclyde in 2024 as a Reader after four years as a group leader at the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics (MPQ) near Munich, Germany. During this time, my team did the first quantum simulation experiments observing the pairing between dopants in an antiferromagnet, and we realised a symmetry-protected topological phase with Fermions in a lattice. Prior, I studied Engineering Physics (BSc) and Physics (Diploma) at the TU Munich, went to the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign with a Fulbright scholarship, and then did my PhD with Christian Gross and Immanuel Bloch at MPQ. We built one of the first Fermionic Quantum Gas Microscopes and observed antiferromagnetism and magnetic polarons in Fermi Hubbard simulations. After graduating in 2017, I moved to Cambridge to work with Zoran Hadzibabic on box-trapped BECs funded by a Marie-Curie fellowship.

Publications
    A. R. Cavallar, L. Escalera-Moreno, T. Franz, T. Hilker, J. I. Cirac, P. M. Preiss, B. F. Schiffer, Phase-sensitive measurements on a Fermi–Hubbard quantum processor. Quantum 10, (2026).

    Cite DOI

    P. Bojović, T. Hilker, S. Wang, J. Obermeyer, M. Barendregt, D. Tell, T. Chalopin, P. M. Preiss, I. Bloch, T. Franz, High-fidelity collisional quantum gates with fermionic atoms. Nature 652, 602–608 (2026).

    Cite DOI

    A. Roth, L. Qiu, T. Hilker, T. Franz, P. M. Preiss, Constructing arbitrary coherent rearrangements in optical lattices. (2026).

    Cite DOI

    T. Chalopin, P. Bojović, S. Wang, T. Franz, A. Sinha, Z. Wang, D. Bourgund, J. Obermeyer, F. Grusdt, A. Bohrdt, L. Pollet, A. Wietek, A. Georges, T. Hilker, I. Bloch, Observation of emergent scaling of spin-charge correlations at the onset of the pseudogap. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 123, (2026).

    Cite DOI

    T. Chalopin, P. Bojović, D. Bourgund, S. Wang, T. Franz, I. Bloch, T. Hilker, Optical superlattice for engineering Hubbard couplings in quantum simulation. Physical Review Letters 134, (2025).

    Cite DOI

    D. Bourgund, T. Chalopin, P. Bojović, H. Schlömer, S. Wang, T. Franz, S. Hirthe, A. Bohrdt, F. Grusdt, I. Bloch, T. A. Hilker, Formation of individual stripes in a mixed-dimensional cold-atom Fermi-Hubbard system. Nature 637, 57–62 (2025).

    Cite DOI

    H. Schlömer, H. Lange, T. Franz, T. Chalopin, P. Bojović, S. Wang, I. Bloch, T. A. Hilker, F. Grusdt, A. Bohrdt, Local control and mixed dimensions: exploring high-temperature superconductivity in optical lattices. PRX Quantum 5, (2024).

    Cite DOI

    X. Chen, S. Biswas, S. Eppelt, A. Schindewolf, F. Deng, T. Shi, S. Yi, T. A. Hilker, I. Bloch, X. Luo, Ultracold field-linked tetratomic molecules. Nature 626, 283–287 (2024).

    Cite DOI

    H. Schlömer, T. A. Hilker, I. Bloch, U. Schollwöck, F. Grusdt, A. Bohrdt, Quantifying hole-motion-induced frustration in doped antiferromagnets by Hamiltonian reconstruction. Communications Materials 4, 1–8 (2023).

    Cite DOI URL

    L. H. Dogra, G. Martirosyan, T. A. Hilker, J. A. P. Glidden, J. Etrych, A. Cao, C. Eigen, R. P. Smith, Z. Hadzibabic, Universal equation of state for wave turbulence in a quantum gas. Nature 620, 521–524 (2023).

    Cite DOI URL

See all