PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Anders Søndberg Sørensen

Also known as Anders S. Sørensen, Anders Sørensen

Anders Søndberg Sørensen works in quantum information and quantum optics, with research spanning ion-trap gates and photonic quantum hardware. He earned an MSc in physics and chemistry in 1999 and a physics PhD in 2001 at Aarhus, then held postdoctoral roles in Aarhus and at Harvard-Smithsonian before joining the Niels Bohr Institute as an associate professor in 2004 and becoming a professor in 2012. With Klaus Mølmer, he proposed trapped-ion logic gates in 1999; he received the Royal Danish Academy's silver medal in 2007, the Niels Bohr Institute's teaching award in 2011 and an Optica Fellowship in 2020. As of October 2026, he is a professor at NBI and works on PHOQUS, which develops scalable photonic quantum hardware.

Badges

Timeline

  1. 1999–2001

    Aarhus training and ion-trap gates

    At Aarhus, he earns an MSc in physics and chemistry in 1999 and a physics PhD in 2001 on quantum computation and multi-particle entanglement with trapped atoms and ions. In 1999, he and Klaus Mølmer propose ion-trap quantum logic gates that make quantum computation feasible when ion vibrations couple strongly to a thermal reservoir.

  2. 2001–2012

    Postdoctoral work and NBI appointment

    He takes a postdoctoral position at Aarhus University's Department of Physics and Astronomy in 2001–2002, then works at ITAMP in the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in 2002–2004. In 2004, he becomes an associate professor at the Niels Bohr Institute at the University of Copenhagen, a post he holds through 2012.

  3. 2007

    A Royal Danish Academy medal

    He receives the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters silver medal in 2007.

  4. 2011

    A Niels Bohr teaching award

    He receives the Niels Bohr Institute's Jens Martin teaching award in 2011.

  5. 2012

    Professor and quantum interfaces

    In 2012, he becomes a professor at the Niels Bohr Institute and receives an ERC Starting Grant for research on quantum interfaces and open systems.

  6. 2020

    An Optica Fellowship

    Optica names him a Fellow in 2020 for contributions to theoretical quantum optics, including methods for quantum gates and nonclassical states of atoms, light and plasmons.

  7. 2024

    Fault-tolerant photonic hardware

    In 2024, he joins the five-year Fault-Tolerant Quantum Photonics initiative at NBI, which develops fault-tolerant photonic-computing architectures around deterministic single-photon emitters.

  8. 2025–2031

    A PHOQUS principal investigator

    In 2025, he becomes one of four principal investigators on PHOQUS, an ERC Synergy project at NBI funded through 2031. It aims to build scalable photonic quantum hardware using quantum dots to produce entangled photons. As of October 2026, he is a professor and leads NBI's Theoretical Quantum Optics group.

Career

  1. Since 2004University of CopenhagenAssociate Professor, Professor
  2. 2002–2004Center for Astrophysics Harvard & SmithsonianPostdoctoral Researcher
  3. 2001–2002Aarhus UniversityPostdoctoral Researcher

Education

  1. 2001Aarhus UniversityPhysics PhD
  2. 1999Aarhus UniversityMSc in physics and chemistry

From the biography.

  1. The United States employs an estimated 48% of people shaping AIIncludes University of Copenhagen. We estimate where the people shaping AI work today, how universities, companies and research institutes split across countries, and how country shares have changed since the 1960s.
  2. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionIncludes University of Copenhagen. We estimate where the people shaping AI studied and where their careers led. Massachusetts Institute of Technology leads with 467 former students, including 291 recorded doctorates.
  3. The company share of AI researchers’ top papers was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974Includes University of Copenhagen. We estimate where the people shaping AI worked when their most-cited papers appeared: the company share was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974, and Google led all organizations in 2020–2024.
  4. Google has the highest combined h-index among AI organizationsIncludes University of Copenhagen. We estimate that Google holds the highest combined h-index at 8,016, while universities account for 73% of the deduplicated total across AI organizations.

Colleagues

People named in this biography, and people with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

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  1. Anders Søndberg Sørensen - University of Copenhagen Research Portal researchprofiles.ku.dk. Checked 21 October 2026.
  2. Quantum Computation with Ions in Thermal Motion | Phys. Rev. Lett. journals.aps.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  3. 2020 Fellows | Optica optica.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  4. New initiative elevates Denmark's role in Fault-Tolerant Photonic Quantum Computing di.ku.dk. Checked 21 October 2026.
  5. New ERC Synergy Project to Pave the Way for Future Photonic Quantum Technology nbi.ku.dk. Checked 21 October 2026.
  6. Research centres and grants – Faculty of Science - University of Copenhagen science.ku.dk. Checked 21 October 2026.
  7. Theoretical Quantum Optics – Niels Bohr Institute - University of Copenhagen nbi.ku.dk. Checked 21 October 2026.