Born in Manresa, Spain. In 1988, he graduated in Theoretical Physics from the Complutense University, Madrid (Spain), and gained his PhD in 1991. Between 1991 and 1996, he was Associate Professor at the University of Castilla-La Mancha (Spain) and Research Associate at the University of Colorado, Boulder (USA). From 1996 until 2001 he was Professor of Theoretical Physics at the University of Innsbruck (Austria). Since 2001 he is a member of the Max Planck Society and Director at the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics in Garching (Germany). In 2002 he also became honorary professor at the Technical University of Munich. He carries out research in quantum computing, quantum optics and many-body physics. He is a member of the Spanish, German (Leopoldina) and Bavarian Academies of Sciences, and corresponding member of the Austrian. He holds seven honorary doctorships.