Steven Hoekstra appointed Professor of Experimental Quantum Physics

Steven Hoekstra is promoted to Professor of Experimental Quantum Physics at the Faculty of Science and Engineering of the University of Groningen.

Steven’s research focus is on performing high-precision experiments on atoms, molecules and nanoparticles. Using locally developed apparatus, he studies the quantum properties of these systems at low energy to extract scientific results which can relate to energy scales not yet reachable by high-energy accelerators. Steven’s key expertise is to produce, characterize, slow down and trap molecules and nanoparticles for precision measurements. His main research lines are the electric dipole moment (EDM) of the electron and studies of levitated nanospheres. Presently, Steven is programme leader of the eEDM experiment, one of the key programmes within the National Institute for Subatomic Physics (Nikhef) and, at the VSI, he works closely together with other experimentalists as well as theorists.

Steven received his PhD in 2005, from the University of Groningen. Since then, he worked at the Fritz-Haber Institut in Berlin for 4,5 years as a postdoc and, later on, group leader, before returning to the University of Groningen in 2009 as an assistant professor. At the Precision Frontier of the Van Swinderen Institute for Particle Physics and Gravity, he has successfully established his own research group, which currently consists of 5 PhD candidates. In addition, he is presently co-supervising a theoretical PhD candidate of the Precision Frontier.

His research is funded by amongst others an NWO Vidi grant (2013) for the project ‘A cold trap for dark matter’, an NWO VICI grant (2022) for ‘Searching for missing antimatter with trapped molecules’ and an NWO XL grant (2022) for ‘Using cold molecules to search for fundamental asymmetry’ (together with colleagues from UG, Nikhef, VU and UvA – the ‘NL-eEDM programme’).

Besides his research, Steven also actively contributes to teaching and outreach at the Faculty of Science and Engineering. He teaches in the Physics and Applied Physics degree programmes as well as in the University minor ‘Einstein’s Physics’ and he often organizes lab tours in the context of Zpannend Zernike, visits of study associations, prospective students, etc.