Peter Grünberg Institute (PGI)
Information and information processing are fundamental to modern society. This applies to many aspects of our daily life. In order to meet the grand challenges facing humanity in the future, information and communication technologies must continue to develop at a rapid pace.
The exponential increase in data traffic, the growing demands on information processing as well as the increasing need to protect information calls for ever larger and more complex IT systems. This naturally results in a critical increase in IT energy costs.
With the foreseeable end of exponential growth in computing power, also known as “Moore´s law”, and the so-called “von Neumann bottleneck” slowing down on-chip data processing, ground-breaking improvements in the performance of information processing systems are needed. These will result primarily from breakthroughs in two fundamental areas: quantum physics, in particular through the study of quantum phenomena in materials and their use in devices, and biology, through the study of biological and neural information systems.
The main area of the research of the PGI is focused on potential applications in information technology and related fields, in particular:
- quantum materials
- quantum computing
- neuromorphic computing.
The PGI contributes to these important areas. It has a long-standing expertise in research on new phenomena in condensed matter, the development of novel materials and functional nanostructures as well as innovation in experimental and theoretical methods. The main focus of the work of the PGI is always on potential applications in information technology and related fields.
Quantum and neuromorphic computing have become our areas of special focus. Both technologies have the potential to contribute to the IT challenges described above. Both technologies can perform certain types of computations faster and/or more energy-efficiently than today's computers. In quantum computing for example, these calculations include optimization problems and the issue of secure encryption; in neuromorphic computing, they include pattern recognition. In this way, the PGI’s research contributes to solving some of the major challenges facing science, society and the economy.
Managing Director
Prof.Dr. Claus Michael Schneider
Head of Institute Electronic Properties at Peter Grünberg Institute (PGI-6)
Deputy
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Peter Grünberg Institute (PGI)