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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.

2025

Nano-electronvolt Fourier-limited transition of a single surface-adsorbed molecule

Masoud Mirzaei, Alexey Shkarin, Burak Gurlek, Johannes Zirkelbach, Ashley J. Shin, Irena Deperasińska, Boleslaw Kozankiewicz, Tobias Utikal, Stephan Götzinger, et al.

arXiv 2510.14999 (2025) | Preprint | PDF

High-resolution spectroscopy allows one to probe weak interactions and to detect subtle phenomena. While such measurements are routinely performed on atoms and molecules in the gas phase, spectroscopy of adsorbed species on surfaces is faced with challenges. As a result, previous studies of surface-adsorbed molecules have fallen short of the ultimate resolution, where the transition linewidth is determined by the lifetime of the excited state. In this work, we conceive a new approach to surface deposition and report on Fourier-limited electronic transitions in single dibenzoterrylenes adsorbed onto the surface of an anthracene crystal. By performing spectroscopy and super-resolution microscopy at liquid helium temperature, we shed light on various properties of the adsorbed molecules. Our experimental results pave the way for a new class of experiments in surface science, where high spatial and spectral resolution can be combined.

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.

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