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QUEST Institute at PTB

The Excellence Cluster QUEST (Centre for Quantum Engineering and Space-Time Research), founded in November 2007 in cooperation with PTB, has grown in the form of a QUEST Institute at PTB. Thus, the unique measuring facilities of PTB can contribute even more to the already very successful cooperation in which six institutes of the Leibniz University Hannover, the Laser Centre Hannover, the Gravitational Wave Detector GEO600 in Ruthe, the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert Einstein Institute/AEI) as well as the Centre of Applied Space Technology and Microgravitation (Zentrum für Angewandte Raumfahrtt echnologie und Mikrogravitation (ZARM)), Bremen, are involved.

One of the major scientific goals of the institute is the development of an ultra-accurate clock based on a single aluminium atom with an expected measurement uncertainty of only 10–18.

As a result, researchers will be able to pursue the question of whether the fundamental constants of physics, as for example the fine structure constant, change in space or time. This has been predicted by modern theories of physics, such as, for instance, the String Theory. In its start-up phase, the new QUEST Institute at PTB is being financed by the German Research Foundation (DFG). After this period of funding, the professorship will be permanently continued by PTB and BMWi.

Contact at PTB:

Phone: +49-531-592-0