New name, established program: Following the highly successful quantum anniversary year 2025, the "MQV-Einblicke" event series entered its next round last week with the kick-off at Ohm – from now on with the adapted subtitle “Experience quantum sciences on site.” And that is exactly what interested visitors were invited to do again this time. A young audience in particular listened spellbound to the lectures by Prof. Andreas Stute, Prof. Bernd Braun, and Prof. Rainer Engelbrecht before being taken on a tour of various laboratories mostly affiliated with the “Optical Quantum Technologies” working group.
After a general introduction to quantum physics, which gave the audience a rough overview of the theory of quantum mechanics and its peculiarities, examples of applications from the first quantum revolution, and the promises of the second quantum revolution – in which quantum properties and states are to be exploited in a targeted manner for technological purposes – the quantum technology research at Ohm was presented in more concrete terms. Analogous to the development of classical computers, where transistors, which 100 years ago were still crude, clunky structures, can now be found in their hundreds of thousands on a microchip, complex laboratory structures in quantum technologies are also to be miniaturized to such an extent that compact components suitable for industrial use can be created. Scientists at Ohm are conducting research into this process, thereby making a decisive contribution to the effective transfer of quantum technology from basic research to industrial application. In Munich Quantum Valley, this bridge-building is evident in the R&D professorship held by Prof. Andreas Stute at Ohm. Close cooperation with the Max Planck Institute for Quantum Optics on the scientific side and with the start-up planqc on the industrial side is making this transfer possible.
After the theoretical introduction, visitors were able to see for themselves how micro-optics are actually manufactured during laboratory tours. In the green-lit laboratory for optical quantum technologies, it was impressive to see how many lasers, cables, lenses, beam splitters, and other specialized optical components of an experimental setup have to fit into a compact device. The guests were very interested in how this works exactly, as their increasingly detailed questions clearly showed.
Anyone interested in finding out how quantum technologies are being applied in industry can follow up on March 26 at the next "MQV-Einblicke" event at Menlo Systems. Information and the registration link can be found here.