Zala Lenarčič is a Senior Scientific Associate at the Jožef Stefan Institute (JSI), where she leads the Group for Non-Equilibrium Open Many-Body Quantum Systems. She is the recipient of an ERC Starting Grant for her project “Weakly Driven Quantum Symmetries”, and she coordinates the QuSiED European QuantERA consortium while serving as a partner in the T-NiSQ QuantERA consortium. Additionally, Zala represents Slovenia in the Quantum Flagship Quantum Community Network (QCN) and advises the European Commission as a member of its Working Group for Quantum Technologies.
Zala’s primary research focus lies in the non-equilibrium dynamics of many-body quantum systems. Together with her group, she investigates how engineered driving and interactions with external baths can stabilize exotic non-equilibrium states. Her work emphasizes understanding how the symmetries of an unperturbed system dictate the types of non-thermal states that can emerge from driving. Leveraging advanced numerical techniques, including tensor networks and neural networks, Zala aspires to bridge theoretical predictions with experimental realization. She addresses possible realizations with quantum simulators, quantum computing platforms, and correlated material to bring this cutting-edge physics to life.
