Impressions from MCQST 2022

The fourth edition of our annual conference, MCQST 2022, brought together 160 people from all over the world to Sonthofen – the southernmost town in Germany, nestled in the foothills of the Alps. For three days, 28 invited speakers gave a series of talks on all areas of QST, divided into sessions based on MCQST’s seven Research Units. In the spirit of accessibility, the entire conference was streamed live for an online audience, and the talks are now available on our YouTube channel.

On the final day, we held an award ceremony for the winners of our 2021 PhD Award, Annabelle Bohrdt and Benjamin Merkel. This award annually honors two outstanding PhD theses from the MCQST community to recognize excellence in research at an early career stage and encourage awardees to pursue a further career in science. Annabelle and Benjamin each received a cash prize donated by Toptica Photonics.

In the evenings, dozens of scientists presented 76 posters in the main conference hall. A jury of peers selected the top three posters, and each winner received a cash prize from Menlo Systems. The awardees are:

• 1st Place - Amir Youssefi | Superconducting circuit optomechanics in topological lattices
• 2nd Place - Pau Farrera & Dominik Niemietz | Nondestructive detection of photonic qubits
• 3rd Place - Mirco Troue | Condensation signatures and optical dipole orientation of interlayer excitons in a MoSe2/WSe2 heterostack

Thank you to everyone who made #MCQST2022 a resounding success!