Dr. Georgios Koutentakis, postdoc

I was born and raised in a really small village with a population of ~50 people called “Metochia Sokara” in the southern part of the island of Crete (Greece). I obtained my batchelor’s and master’s degree in the physics department of the University of Crete. My training had originally been in theoretical high-energy physics, stemming more from peer-pressure than personal preference. Thankfully, I did not miss the opportunity to join Prof. Schmelcher’s group in the university of Hamburg for my PhD studies, where I have focussed on the exciting many-body physics of ultracold atoms and thus made my first steps into Atomic Molecular and Optical (AMO) physics.

In April 2022 I joined the group of Prof. M. Lemeshko as a post-doctoral researcher via the IST-BRIDGE program, providing me an opportunity to broaden my scientific horizons in Atomic and Molecular physics, as well as, explore interesting phenomena at the interface of AMO with condensed matter physics.

My main research interests lie on micro- and mesoscopic quantum many-body phenomena encountered in AMO and condensed matter physics. I am particularly interested in the effective description of dynamical phenomena, in terms of quasi-particle dynamics, and in the relation of these quasi-particles to non-linear semiclassical structures, such as solitons and vortices. Another topic I find fascinating is the microscopic origin of magnetic phenomena in ultracold atomic ensembles and its relation to molecular and condensed matter systems, for which surprisingly no complete microscopic theory exists yet.

My “extracurricular” interests include music, board games and learning about social sciences such as economics, political science, history and philosophy.