The atom catcher
Markus Krutzik studies the basics and applications of high-precision measurement technology
When he moved to Berlin for his PhD in 2009, Markus Krutzik heard his supervisor say: “We will move to Adlershof soon.” The Frankfurt native had never heard of that place. It is now a decade ago that his academic and professional life has been rooted in Berlin’s south east, currently in two locations on Newton and Gustav-Kirchhoff-Strasse. Krutzik works at the physics department of Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and the Ferdinand-Braun-Institut, Leibniz-Institut für Höchstfrequenztechnik (FBH).
He conducts basic research on the development of – as he puts it – “compact and robust atoms-based sensors”, high-precision instruments used for things like measuring time and navigation. Both his places of work mutually complement each other: “The concepts we think up as physicists are then brought to maturity for application by the FBH researchers.” Developing and applying. Krutzik has a passion for both.
He calls it “a drive to understand and to illuminate overarching relations.” To pursue the question: “What is behind the unknown?” This is what brought him to physics. Which is why, after finishing high school, he commuted between the city on the Main and Darmstadt for years on end, because his impression was that the latter’s Technical University had more to offer regarding the natural sciences. It is thanks to studying there that he found a fascination with a phenomenon that does not exist in the natural world but of which he nevertheless says: “I couldn’t let it go.” He is talking about “cold atoms”.
For those who have never heard of them, Krutzik explains it in roughly the following way: Using laser beams and magnetic fields, it is possible to cool down atomic gases to a millionth of a degree above absolute zero. Note that this is not the freezing point but more than 273 degrees Celsius below it. When doing so, the speed at which atoms move is drastically reduced to a mere 100 micrometres per second, about the diameter of a hair. The atoms are not slowed down completely but slow enough for physics researchers to control its movements: “We capture and manipulate atoms for measuring time and physical fields,” Krutzik says, explaining his work.
What is it you can do with this? For example, says Krutzik, it enables us to measure the falling speed of a free-falling “atomic cloud” in an ultra-high vacuum to precisely determine gravitational acceleration. Such “atoms-based” machines are the “most exciting type of sensor imaginable”.
Is there anything else that is able to fascinate him in this way? For 18 years, which amounts to half of his life, Krutzik has been singing in a heavy metal band that he started in a schoolyard in Frankfurt-Sachsenhausen. In 2018, he even performed at Wacken, the legendary festival in Schleswig-Holstein.
By Winfried Dolderer for Adlershof Journal