News from the Institute

MPQ Director Ignacio Cirac has been awarded the IMPRS-MCQST Supervision Award 2025. The IMPRS-MCQST community honours him for his outstanding dedication to mentoring PhD students and postdocs. Johannes Knolle, Professor at TU Munich, is recognised alongside Cirac. The award underlines the importance of excellent supervision for successful research careers and an inclusive academic environment. more

Karl-Ludwig Kompa, one of the founding directors of the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics and an internationally recognised pioneer in laser chemistry, passed away on 23 November 2025. His work helped establish the institute’s global reputation and forged a bridge between chemistry and quantum physics. Director Theodor Hänsch, who worked closely with Kompa for two decades, remembers him as a valued colleague and trusted companion – a tribute. more

For its mission to bring a “Made in Germany” quantum computer based on neutral atoms into industrial application, MPQ spin-off planqc was awarded the prestigious German Founder Award in the Startup category on September 9, 2025. Founded in 2022 out of Immanuel Bloch’s Quantum Many-Body Systems division, the company’s unique approach enables highly energy-efficient, scalable, and stable systems, rooted in decades of pioneering research at MPQ. more

Rahul Trivedi, tenured researcher in the Theory Division at MPQ, has been awarded an ERC Starting Grant of €1.5 million. His project ToNQS aims to develop new theoretical foundations to assess the reliability of quantum simulators operating under realistic noisy conditions. The research paves the way to exploring complex many-body phenomena – long before fully fault-tolerant quantum computers become a reality. more

This week, we could present one of MPQ's neutral atom experiments to the German Federal Minister for Research, Technology and Aerospace, Dorothee Bär, and the Bavarian State Minister of Science and Arts, Markus Blume. Their visit focused on gaining insights into the recent breakthroughs in quantum computing research and fostering dialogue between academia, industry, startups and government on how to further assure Munich’s and Germany’s excellent global position in the field.  more