Berthold-Georg Englert

Berthold-Georg Englert (born 1953) is Provost's Chair Professor at the Beijing Institute of Technology, and Principal Investigator at the Centre for Quantum Technologies.{{Cite web |url=http://www.quantumlah.org/research/group/PI/9 |title=CQT Research Group |access-date=2011-08-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111001002806/http://www.quantumlah.org/research/group/PI/9 |archive-date=2011-10-01 |url-status=dead }} In 2006, he was recognized for outstanding contributions to theoretical research on quantum coherence.A*STAR {{cite web |url=http://www.a-star.edu.sg/AwardsScholarships/PresidentsScienceandTechnologyAwards/PastNationalScienceTechnologyAwardsWinners/NSTAWinners2006/WinnerCitationDeptofPhysicsNUSandNIE/tabid/596/Default.aspx |title=Winner Citation, National Science Award |date=2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120327091851/http://www.a-star.edu.sg/AwardsScholarships/PresidentsScienceandTechnologyAwards/PastNationalScienceTechnologyAwardsWinners/NSTAWinners2006/WinnerCitationDeptofPhysicsNUSandNIE/tabid/596/Default.aspx |archive-date=2012-03-27}} Englert's principal research interests concern applications in quantum information science, but he is also known for his early work on quantum optics together with Marlan Scully at Texas A&M University.{{Cite web |url = http://www.aps.org/programs/honors/prizes/prizerecipient.cfm?last_nm=Scully&first_nm=Marlan&year=2005 |title = 2018 Stanley Corrsin Award Recipient}}

Education and career

Englert studied physics at the University of Tübingen and obtained his Ph.D. in Physics there in 1981. He did post-doctoral research at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (LMU) and obtained his Dr. rer. nat. habil. in 1990. Subsequently he worked as a researcher at LMU until 1995 and then held different visiting professorships in Europe and the United States until he joined the faculty of the National University of Singapore in 2003.

Englert was named American Physical Society (APS) Outstanding Referee in 2008, he is Fellow of the Institute of Physics Singapore (IPS) since 2012, Fellow of the APS since 2015, and recipient of the IPS President Medal for 2019.{{cite web |url=https://phyweb.physics.nus.edu.sg/~phyebg/CV_Englert_Jan21.pdf |title=Curriculum Vitae |date=2021-01-17 |access-date=2023-11-16}} He is the Scientific Secretary of the Julian Schwinger Foundation.{{Cite web | url=http://www.schwingerfoundation.org/ | title=Julian Schwinger Foundation}}

Scientific contributions

Englert is the author of more than 180 publications in the fields of atomic, molecular and optical physics.[http://www.physics.nus.edu.sg/~phyebg/Papers/BGE_Papers.pdf List of publications] As of November 2023 his research has been cited more than 7,600 times for a h index of 41.{{cite web |url=https://www.webofscience.com/wos/woscc/citation-report/c2b60a0f-bba2-4d6c-98fa-443a27915acd-b5058c4c |title=Citation Report: Berthold-Georg Englert |work=webofscience.com |access-date=2023-11-16}}

Englert's most cited works are from the areas of quantum optics and quantum information. With Marlan Scully and Herbert Walther, he proposed a quantum optical test of quantum mechanical complementarity.{{cite journal |title=Quantum optical tests of complementarity |first1=Marlan O. |last1=Scully |first2=B. G. |last2=Englert |first3=Herbert |last3=Walther |journal=Nature |date=1991 |volume=351 |issue=6322 |pages=111–116 |doi=10.1038/351111a0|bibcode=1991Natur.351..111S |s2cid=4311842 }} He also derived an inequality by which the visibility of interference fringes in interferometer experiments sets an upper bound on the which-way information available.{{cite journal |title=Fringe visibility and which-way information: An inequality |author=Berthold-Georg Englert |journal=Physical Review Letters |date=1996 |volume=77 |issue=11 |pages=2154–2157 |doi=10.1103/PhysRevLett.77.2154|pmid=10061872 |bibcode=1996PhRvL..77.2154E }}

In 1998 he studied with three co-authors he studied the interaction of two ultracold atoms in a three-dimensional trap and obtained an analytical solution which extended the previously know one- and two-dimensional limiting cases to the more realistic three-dimensional one.{{cite journal |title=Two cold atoms in a harmonic trap |first1=Thomas |last1=Busch |first2=BG |last2=Englert |first3=Kazimierz |last3=Rzażewski |first4=Martin |last4=Wilkens |journal=Foundations of Physics |date=1998 |volume=28 |issue=4 |pages=549–559 |doi=10.1023/A:1018705520999|bibcode=1998FoPh...28..549B }}

He is co-author of frequently cited reviews on cavity quantum electrodynamics{{cite journal |title=Cavity quantum electrodynamics |first1=Herbert |last1=Walther |first2=Benjamin T. H. |last2=Varcoe |first3=Berthold-Georg |last3=Englert |first4=Thomas |last4=Becker |journal=Reports on Progress in Physics |date=2006 |volume=69 |issue=5 |pages=1325–1382 |doi=10.1088/0034-4885/69/5/R02|bibcode=2006RPPh...69.1325W |s2cid=122420445 }} and on mutually unbiased bases.{{cite journal |title=On mutually unbiased bases |first1=Thomas |last1=Durt |first2=Berthold-Georg |last2=Englert |first3=Ingemar |last3=Bengtsson |first4=Karol |last4=Życzkowski |journal=International Journal of Quantum Information |date=2010 |volume=8 |issue=4 |pages=535–640 |doi=10.1142/S0219749910006502 |arxiv=1004.3348|s2cid=118551747 }}

He edited and published Symbolism of Atomic Measurements{{cite book | last=Schwinger | first=Julian | title=Quantum mechanics : symbolism of atomic measurements | publisher=Springer | publication-place=Berlin New York | year=2001 | isbn=3-540-41408-8 | oclc=45835557 | page=}} based on lecture notes by Julian Schwinger, which has been called „a delight and a wonderful resource to a theoretical physicist“ and judged to come as close as possible to the „definitive textbook“ on quantum mechanics that Schwinger had intended to write.{{cite journal |url=https://phyweb.physics.nus.edu.sg/~phyebg/TomKibbleReview.pdf |title=Elegant spin on journey to the very heart of the matter |author=Tom Kibble |date=21 September 2001 |journal=The Times Higher Education Supplement}}

Honors and awards

In 2015, Englert was inducted as a fellow of the American Physical Society for "distinctive theoretical contributions to the foundations, interpretation, and applications of quantum mechanics".{{Cite web |title=APS Fellow Archive |url=https://www.aps.org/programs/honors/fellowships/archive-all.cfm?initial=&year=2015&unit_id=DQI&institution=National+University+of+Singapore |access-date=2024-01-20 |website=American Physical Society |language=en}}