Pioneering in Quantum Optics
The MPQ is one of the world’s leading institutes on Quantum Optics. As part of the Max Planck Society, we offer our scientists a unique infrastructure: state-of-the-art laboratories with first-class equipment, custom-made pieces from our own precision mechanical workshop, and an outstanding technical and administrative support. This excellent funding pays off: MPQ researchers publish around 200 publications per year, many of them in the highest-ranking journals like Science and Nature.
Our task to train and teach
Training young scientists is at the core of our work at MPQ. Our Ph.D. Candidates and Postdocs receive comprehensive and profound supervision so that many job opportunities in academia and industry arise for them after leaving the institute. We also strive to inspire and engage the general public for quantum optics, starting with the very young who can conduct quantum physical experiments in the PhotonLab, our student laboratory at MPQ. For all others, we regularly organize public events with popular science talks and lab tours.
Genius, diverse and likeable
Our top ranking in the field is owed to the people working at MPQ. We are fortunate to be able to attract the best researchers from all over the world. At the moment, scientists from close to 40 different nations are working at the institute. However, not only skill but also character matter to us. Treating each other with respect is just as important to us as making sure that everyone who works here feels comfortable. That’s why we are creating more and more opportunities for people to meet beyond the lab and workplace.
Gates to uncharted territory
Quantum physics represents one of the major scientific revelations of the 20th century. It allows us to observe phenomena that often seem puzzling and counterintuitive to our experience of nature and the universe, phenomena that show us the boundaries of our knowledge. With our fundamental research, we push those boundaries further and further and open the gates to a new and uncharted territory of physics. One that holds the potential to change and shape our world, our knowledge, and our technologies forever. Currently, there are five different fields established at MPQ.
An excellent environment
The MPQ is part of the Research Campus Garching, one of the strongest research regions in Germany. Garching is in close connection to Munich, a city with a longstanding and rich culture, the Bavarian lake district and the alps. All with a high recreational value. Also scientifically we are at the heart of an excellent environment: locally, we maintain close ties with the elite universities LMU and TU Munich, and internationally to more distant excellence institutions like Harvard or Princeton. Furthermore, outstanding scientists from all over the globe visit us as guests and speakers on a daily basis.