He is Professor at ETH Zurich, Switzerland, and works in the field of ultracold quantum gases and optical lattices.

Tilman Esslinger received his PhD in physics from the University of Munich and the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics, Germany, in 1995.

He then build up his own group in Hänsch’s lab and conducted pioneering work on atom lasers,[1] observed long-range phase coherence in a Bose–Einstein condensate,[2] and realized the superfluid to Mott-insulator transition with a Bose gas in an optical lattice.

Recent notable results include the development of a quantum simulator for graphene,[9] setting up of a cavity-optomechanical system in which the Dicke quantum phase transition to a superradiant state has been observed for the first time,[10] as well as creation of a cold-atom analogue of mesoscopic conductors[11] and observation of the onset of superfluidity in that system.

[12] Esslinger received a Phillip Morris Research Prize (shared with Theodor Hänsch and Immanuel Bloch) in 2000 and currently holds an ERC advanced grant.