Dr. Tobias Utikal

  • Wissenschaftlicher Referent (Research Coordinator)
  • Room: A.3.232
  • Telephone: +49 9131 7133316
  • E-mail

My research interest ranges from cryogenic Nano-Quantum-Optics with single emitters to Nano-Bio-Photonics using iSCAT microscopy. As research coordinator of the division I am involved in many research projects pushing the experiments forward, coordinating resources, and preserving the knowledge in the group. In various exploratory side-projects I am breaking new ground for future experiments.

I am always interested in the latest technology developments of narrow-band lasers, cryogenics, nano-positioning, microscopy at and beyond the diffraction limit, single photon detectors, and scientific cameras.

iSCAT microscopy and particle tracking with tailored spatial coherence

Mahdi Mazaheri, Kiarash Kasaian, David Albrecht, Jan Renger, Tobias Utikal, Cornelia Holler, Vahid Sandoghdar

Optica 11 1030-1038 (2024) | Journal | PDF


High-Resolution Cryogenic Spectroscopy of Single Molecules in Nanoprinted Crystals

Mohammad Musavinezhad, Jan Renger, Johannes Zirkelbach , Tobias Utikal, Claudio U. Hail, Thomas Basché, Dimos Poulikakos, Stephan Götzinger, Vahid Sandoghdar

ACS Nano 18 21886-21893 (2024) | Journal | PDF


Spectral splitting of a stimulated Raman transition in a single molecule

Johannes Zirkelbach, Burak Gürlek, Masoud Mirzaei, Alexey Shkarin, Tobias Utikal, Stephan Götzinger, Vahid Sandoghdar

Physical Review Research 5 043244 (2023) | Journal | PDF


On-chip interference of scattering from two individual molecules

Dominik Rattenbacher, Alexey Shkarin, Jan Renger, Tobias Utikal, Stephan Götzinger, Vahid Sandoghdar

Optica 10 1595-1601 (2023) | Journal | PDF


Quantum Efficiency of Single Dibenzoterrylene Molecules in p-Dichlorobenzene at Cryogenic Temperatures

Mohammad Musavinezhad, Alexey Shkarin, Dominik Rattenbacher, Jan Renger, Tobias Utikal, Stephan Götzinger, Vahid Sandoghdar

The Journal of Physical Chemistry B 5353-5359 (2023) | Journal | PDF


High-resolution vibronic spectroscopy of a single molecule embedded in a crystal

Johannes Zirkelbach, Masoud Mirzaei, Irena Deperasińska, Boleslaw Kozankiewicz, Burak Gürlek, Alexey Shkarin, Tobias Utikal, Stephan Götzinger, Vahid Sandoghdar

The Journal of Chemical Physics 156 104301 (2022) | Journal | PDF


Single-molecule vacuum Rabi splitting: four-wave mixing and optical switching at the single-photon level

André Pscherer, Manuel Meierhofer, Daqing Wang, Hrishikesh Kelkar, Diego-Martin Cano, Tobias Utikal, Stephan Götzinger, Vahid Sandoghdar

Physical Review Letters 127 133603 (2021) | Journal


suggested by editors

Nanoscopic charge fluctuations in a gallium phosphide waveguide measured by single molecules

Alexey Shkarin, Dominik Rattenbacher, Jan Renger, Simon Hönl, Tobias Utikal, Paul Seidler, Stephan Götzinger, Vahid Sandoghdar

Physical Review Letters 126 133602 (2021) | Journal


Partial cloaking of a gold particle by a single molecule

Johannes Zirkelbach, Benjamin Gmeiner, Jan Renger, Pierre Türschmann, Tobias Utikal, Stephan Götzinger, Vahid Sandoghdar

Physical Review Letters 125 103603 (2020) | Journal


suggested by editors

Coherent coupling of single molecules to on-chip ring resonators

Dominik Rattenbacher, Alexey Shkarin, Jan Renger, Tobias Utikal, Stephan Götzinger, Vahid Sandoghdar

New Journal of Physics 21 062002 (2019) | Journal


Turning a molecule into a coherent two-level quantum system

Daqing Wang, Hrishikesh Kelkar, Diego-Martin Cano, Dominik Rattenbacher, Alexey Shkarin, Tobias Utikal, Stephan Götzinger, Vahid Sandoghdar

Nature Physics 15 483-489 (2019) | Journal


Coherent Coupling of a Single Molecule to a Scanning Fabry-Perot Microcavity

Daqing Wang, Hrishikesh Kelkar, Diego-Martin Cano, Tobias Utikal, Stephan Goetzinger, Vahid Sandoghdar

Physical Review X 7 021014 (2017) | Journal


Spectroscopy of Graphene at the Saddle Point

D. Wolf, D.-H. Chae, T. Utikal, P. Herlinger, J. Smet, H. Giessen, M. Lippitz

Optical Properties of Graphene 325-348 (2017)


Chip-Based All-Optical Control of Single Molecules Coherently Coupled to a Nanoguide

Pierre Tuerschmann, Nir Rotenberg, Jan Renger, Irina Harder, Olga Lohse, Tobias Utikal, Stephan Goetzinger, Vahid Sandoghdar

Nano Letters 17 4941-4945 (2017) | Journal


Spectroscopy and microscopy of single molecules in nanoscopic channels: spectral behavior vs. confinement depth

Benjamin Gmeiner, Andreas Maser, Tobias Utikal, Stephan Goetzinger, Vahid Sandoghdar

Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics 18 19588-19594 (2016) | Journal


Few-photon coherent nonlinear optics with a single molecule

Andreas Maser, Benjamin Gmeiner, Tobias Utikal, Stephan Goetzinger, Vahid Sandoghdar

Nature Photonics 10 450-453 (2016) | Journal


Nonlinear Optics with Single Molecules

B. Gmeiner, A. Maser, T. Utikal, S. Goetzinger, V. Sandoghdar

Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics (2015)


Spectroscopic detection of single Pr3+ ions on the H-3(4)-D-1(2) transition

Emanuel Eichhammer, Tobias Utikal, Stephan Goetzinger, Vahid Sandoghdar

New Journal of Physics 17 083018 (2015) | Journal


Nano-Quantenoptik

Tobias Utikal, Emanuel Eichhammer, Benjamin Gmeiner, Andreas Maser, Daqing Wang, Pierre Türschmann, Hrishikesh Kelkar, Nir Rotenberg, Stephan Götzinger, et al.

MPG Jahrbuch 2015 (2015) | Book Chapter


Nonlinear Plasmon Optics

Mario Hentschel, Tobias Utikal, Bernd Metzger, Harald Giessen, Markus Lippitz

Progress in Nonlinear Nano-Optics: Nano-Optics and Nanophotonics 155-181 (2014) | Book Chapter


Spectroscopic detection and state preparation of a single praseodymium ion in a crystal

Tobias Utikal, Emanuel Eichhammer, L. Petersen, Alois Renn, Stephan Götzinger, Vahid Sandoghdar

Nature Communications 5 3627 (2014) | Journal


Quantitative Modeling of the Third Harmonic Emission Spectrum of Plasmonic Nanoantennas

M. Hentschel, T. Utikal, H. Giessen, M. Lippitz

Nano Letters 12(7) 3778-3782 (2012)


Tailoring the photonic band splitting in metallodielectric photonic crystal superlattices

T. Utikal, T. Zentgraf, S. G. Tikhodeev, M. Lippitz, H. Giessen

Physical Review B 84(7) 075101 (2011)


Nonlinear photonics with metallic nanostructures on top of dielectrics and waveguides

T. Utikal, M. Hentschel, H. Giessen

Applied Physics B 105(1 Sp. Iss. SI) 51-65 (2011)


Towards the Origin of the Nonlinear Response in Hybrid Plasmonic Systems

T. Utikal, T. Zentgraf, T. Paul, C. Rockstuhl, F. Lederer, M. Lippitz, H. Giessen

Physical Review Letters 106(13) 133901 (2011)


Excitonic Fano Resonance in Free-Standing Graphene

D. H. Chae, T. Utikal, S. Weisenburger, H. Giessen, K. von Klitzing, M. Lippitz, J. Smet

Nano Letters 11(3) 1379-1382 (2011)


All-Optical Control of the Ultrafast Dynamics of a Hybrid Plasmonic System

T. Utikal, M. I. Stockman, A. P. Heberle, M. Lippitz, H. Giessen

Physical Review Letters 104(11) 113903 (2010)


Tailoring the ultrafast dynamics of the magnetic mode in magnetic photonic crystals

M. Geiselmann, T. Utikal, M. Lippitz, H. Giessen

Physical Review B 81(23) 235101 (2010)


Dynamics and dephasing of plasmon polaritons in metallic photonic crystal superlattices: Time- and frequency-resolved nonlinear autocorrelation measurements and simulations

T. Utikal, T. Zentgraf, J. Kuhl, H. Giessen

Physical Review B 76(24) 245107 (2007)


Tobias Utikal studied Physics at University of Bonn from 2001 to 2007. For his Diploma thesis on “Ultrafast Spectroscopy of Metallic Photonic Crystals” he moved to University of Stuttgart where he worked in the group of Prof. Harald Giessen. The following PhD thesis on “Ultrafast Nonlinear Spectroscopy of Hybrid Plasmonic Systems” he partially conducted at the Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research in Stuttgart. In 2011 he joined the Group of Prof. Vahid Sandoghdar at ETH Zurich as a postdoc. After the move of the group to the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light (MPL) in Erlangen he became a permanent senior scientist and is acting as research coordinator of the division. In his function as safety officer he is member of the work safety council of the institute. Tobias has been elected as the scientific staff representative of MPL from 2015 – 2021.

MPL Research Centers and Schools