Awards and Honours 2023

Immanuel Bloch, Scientific Director at the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics  and Chairholder at the Ludwig Maximilian University Munich, has been awarded the prestigious Stern Gerlach Medal from the German Physical Society (DPG). The award – the highest accolade issued by the DPG for achievements in the field of experimental physics – recognises his ground-breaking research on quantum simulations with ultracold atoms in optical lattices. more

The experimental physicist receives the award for her significant contributions in the field of dual-comb interferometry. The research prize, established in memory of phycisist and mathematician Cécile Morette-DeWitt, is presented annually by the French Academy of Sciences. The award ceremony took place on 17 October under the famed cupola of the Institut de France. more

On 19 September, Ignacio Cirac, Director of the Theory Department at the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics, received the first La Vanguardia Prize in the category "Innovation", which the Spanish daily by the same name awarded for the first time on the occasion of its 142nd anniversary in 2023. The prize was ceremoniously presented to him by Spain's King Felipe VI, who graced the event together with his wife, Queen Letizia. more

Ferenc Krausz, Director at the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics and Professor at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, together with Pierre Agostini, Ferenc Krausz and Anne L'Huillier, has been honoured with the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physics. The Nobel Committee is honouring the two reserachers for the foundation of attosecond physics. An attosecond is a billionth of a billionth of a second. Laser pulses lasting only a few attoseconds can be used to track the movements of individual electrons. This provides fundamental... more

Last week, Eli Yablonovitch, referred to as the father of the photonic crystal, has been named MPQ Distinguished Scholar, which is an award and research scholarship given to outstanding scientists in the field of optics, photonics, quantum physics, or other areas related to quantum optics by the Board of Directors of the Max Planck Institute for Quantum Optics. This program allows an awardee to spend up to six months at the Institute to collaborate with its scientific departments. more

The Bernard J. Couillaud Prize in Ultrafast Lasers honours Dr Edoardo Vicentini’s state-of-the-art research on digital holography with femtosecond frequency combs.The award, conferred annually by the Optica Foundation and Coherent Inc., recognises excellent early-career researchers in ultrafast photonics. Awardees receive a financial grant of 20,000 US dollars, intended to support their outstanding innovative research projects. more

In 2018, Joannis Koepsell and his colleagues at MPQ experienced a magnetic moment: They succeeded for the first time in photographically imaging so-called magnetic polarons, using a quantum simulator. Now, almost five years later, for this astounding discovery as part of his PhD thesis, Joannis Koepsell is awarded with the Otto-Hahn-Medal, the dissertation prize of the Max Planck Society for young talented researchers. more