If anyone still pictures physicists as serious men in white coats, Tereza Zemánková will break this image to pieces in a few minutes. The energetic young scientist is bursting with enthusiasm, and she also has a gift for bringing people closer to her work, in which she straddles the world of classical and quantum physics. The fact that she is on the right track is also confirmed by the Josef Hlávka Award, which the FME graduate received on 16 November at the Lužany Castle.
Although she only graduated in the summer as a graduate of a Master's Degree in physics, Tereza Zemánková has been working in science for years. Specifically, she started to work for the Institute of Scientific Instruments of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, which is almost within sight of her alma mater, the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering of the Brno University of Technology. While still a bachelor's student, she applied for a summer internship and has stayed ever since. Today, she works in a group with the mysterious name "Levitation Photonics".
"Imagine that you have a small object, such as a ball, that is about a thousandth of the thickness of a human hair. We can capture this ball or particle in a vacuum using a light beam and then perform various interesting experiments with it. That's why our field is called optical levitation," says Zemánková, adding that she is aware that it sounds like science fiction. "But I love sci-fi and fantasy," she adds with a smile.
Together with her colleagues, they are one of the leading European teams in the field of the use of optical micromanipulations in advanced experiments at the interface of classical and quantum physics. It was her desire to better understand the challenging field of quantum physics that prompted her to enroll in doctoral studies at Palacký University in Olomouc, where she is now studying quantum optics. "The system we have in the lab is ideal for investigating semiclassical effects and transferring a macroscopic particle into the quantum realm, as I like to call it. And I felt that I lacked sufficient foundations to be able to explain such demanding experiments more simply, or to be able to interpret them," Zemánková explains.
As a good scientist dedicated to quantum physics, she also has a cat at home, although she does not put it in a box, following the example of Schrödinger's famous thought experiment. "We're still sticking with the fact that this is just a thought experiment that illustrates the paradox of quantum superposition," she adds.
A guide to the world of physics
Surprisingly, she did not enjoy physics from an early age, and for a long time it seemed that although she is a daughter of a physicist father, she would not follow in his footsteps. "For example, I enjoyed my part-time job as a guide. I like to communicate with people. Then I thought that I could devote myself to popularizing science. But in order to be able to explain complex things in a simple way, you have to understand them really well," says Zemánková, who eventually chose the study of physical engineering and nanotechnology.
A turning point for her was her internship, during which she spent four months in the scientific group of Professor Markus Aspelmeyer at the University of Vienna. "I met amazing people there, and it is one of the best teams in the field of quantum optics. I even got my own project at that time: I had to study the theory, design and conduct experiments, evaluate the results. And at the same time, I fixed their vacuum pump," the young scientist recalls with a laugh the experience that motivated her in further work. "I realized how much I enjoy it," she adds.
The recent laureate of the Josef Hlávka Award is planning other trips abroad in the future. Thanks to her stay in Vienna, she discovered the topic of quantum gravity, which she is currently very interested in. "Research in this area could lead to the discovery of a new theory that would approximate the quantum nature of gravity. So far, however, there are no experiments that can prove this. It is possible that the levitating particle could bring us closer to the so-called theory of everything," says Zemánková, referring to the "holy grail of physics" in the form of a unified theory providing a synthesis of general relativity and quantum mechanics.
The answer to the question of quantum gravity is one she would really like to know. "I would really like to know if our efforts to get a macroscopic object into the quantum realm will really lead to some very interesting discoveries. And a slightly more realistic wish is to see how we can do with our new hybrid system, where we try to experimentally combine a nanoparticle and an ion, which is something completely new. I am very curious to see how this all will turn out," Zemánková concludes.