Kirchhoff-Institut für Physik, Heidelberg

Founded in 1385, Heidelberg University is the oldest university in Germany. It is one of the strongest research universities and in 2007 received the status of an official elite university in Germany. Research and education covers a wide range of subjects including all traditional university fields. It has an annual budget of over 400 million €, about 600 professors and in total over 11 000 persons employed. The Kirchhoff-Institute for Physics (KIP) of Heidelberg University, founded in 1999, is one of the leading centers of low temperature physics in Germany. Altogether one sub-mK and five sub-20 mK cryostats are available for experimental work at ultralow temperatures. The in-house mechanical workshop and clean room facilities are important infrastructures. The low temperature group is one of the world-leading groups regarding cryogenic particle detection. High-resolution x-ray detectors based on the technique of magnetic calorimeters have the capability to resolve for the first time the ground state splitting between ^229gTh and ^229mTh, and thus determine the transition energy with high precision.

Links:
University of Heidelberg
Kirchhoff-Institut für Physik
Group webpage