The PhotonLab is a laser laboratory specifically designed for high-school students and is located at MPQ. Since 2011, it has been a focal point for anyone who wants to learn about light and it was created to show that optics and photonics is fun. Over 21.000 visitors have already taken the opportunity to learn and experiment in the lab. The first offered experiments were focused on optics. Now, the offer has been extended to quantum analogy experiments like a quantum eraser, a bomb tester, quantum key distribution, and a quantum random number generator. With this setup students can observe the wave and particle behaviors of light at the same time: interference in combination with photon counting statistics.
The PhotonLab regularly offers teacher trainings, internships for high-school students, support in more advanced experiments at schools, or guidance in entering experiments in competitions, such as the German Young Physicist Tournament (GYPT). Moreover, the PhotonLab contributed to two BMBF projects: (1) Quanta — for developing hands-on materials together with Deutsches Museum and other partners, and (2) ease-Corona — for giving repeated workshops for schoolchildren who lost motivation during the Covid-19 pandemic. It is currently partner alongside MCQST in the Quan(t)räume project. In addition the PhotonLab offers digital material, such as interactive books, to prepare the school students for the visit, following the flipped classroom method.
Take a look around the PhotonLab! You'll discover 20 different experiments, which you can do yourself when you visit with your school class. You can measure the thickness of your hair, capture beads of light with optical tweezers, send messages securely using quantum cryptography, and much more. Click through and find your favorite experiment! (The virtual tour is in German.)
Together with PhotonLab, MCQST contributes to teacher training by developing learning materials, offering lectures about ongoing research, and providing lab tours.
We develop and make available to researchers and schools a series of didacitcal materials exploring and explaining fundamental quantum phenomena, such as superposition and entanglement.
Join Alice in Quantumland as she discovers a new wonderfully wierd world! The audio play is available only in German.
The Alice im Quantenland project is a collaboration between the PhotonLab at Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, the research group attoworld, Munich Center for Quantum Science and Technology, Deutsches Museum, and Munich Quantum Valley.
The PhotonLab at the MPQ released the third episode of its popular radio play series for young and old.
PhotonLab wins LeLa "Experiment of the Year" award for the experiment "Lecker im Licht".
The MPQ Photonlab is once again awarded with the LeLa Prize of the Federal Association of German School Labs, this time in the category “experiment of the year”.
10 Jahre Schülerlabor „PhotonLab“! Das ist ein Grund zu feiern! Dafür haben wir zwei abwechslungsreiche Veranstaltungen auf die Beine gestellt.