Congratulations to Thomas Mieling for His Award of Excellence from the BMBWF

12.12.2024

We are thrilled to announce that Dr. Thomas Mieling has been honored with the prestigious Award of Excellence (Staatspreis für die besten Dissertationen) by the Austrian Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research (BMBWF).

Dr. Mieling's dissertation “Gupta–Bleuler Quantization of the Electromagnetic Field in Curved Space-Times with Applications to Gravitational Photon Interferometry” presents a comprehensive theory of quantum optics in curved space-times. His work models the interaction of single photons and entangled multi-photon states with gravitational fields, focusing on light propagation in optical fibers as will be used in forthcoming experiments. This is a significant advancement over previous models that primarily considered classical states of light propagating in weak gravity.

Under the co-supervision of Professors Piotr T. Chruściel and Philip Walther, Dr. Mieling’s research was integral to the GRAVITES project. His findings offer concrete predictions for gravitational photon interferometry at the single-photon level, which are slated for experimental verification in the upcoming GRAVITES experiment.

Throughout his academic journey, Dr. Mieling has garnered several prizes, including the Alfred Wehrl Award in 2019 and a DOC Fellowship from the Austrian Academy of Sciences. His research continues to focus on classical and quantum optics in curved space-time.

(c) BMBWF/Fotografie Sabine Klimpt/ Lichtblick KG – Sabine Klimpt (office@klimpt.at) / www.klimpt.at