IMPRS-QST Events and Activities

Engage in Quantum Exploration and Knowledge Sharing

IMPRS-QST organizes several scientific workshops for its graduate students throughout the year, often in cooperation with partner programs and institutions. We also host industry events and offer training in transferable skills to support the professional development of our members.

Upcoming Events

Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics
April 9-11, 2025 more
Centre for Quantum Technologies
National University of Singapore, Singapore
May 12-16, 2025 more

  

Past Events

We invite you to browse our past events to see the wide range of activities we have organized over the years, showcasing our commitment to fostering scientific growth and collaboration.

2024

Waterloo-Munich Joint Workshop 2024
Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics
Waterloo, Canada
30 September 2024 - 4 October 2024 more
MPI of Quantum Optics | Herbert Walther Lecture Hall
Campus Garching
July 5, 2024 more
Cal-Bay Quantum School 2024
Wolfgang Hillen Summer School 2024
TUM Institute for Advanced Study (IAS)
June 9-14, 2024 more
IMPRS-QST Summer School & MCQST Conference 2024
Allgäu Stern Hotel, Sonthofen, Germany
May 13-17, 2024 more
IMPRS-QST Industry Visit to IBM
IBM Watson Center
March 22, 2024 more

2023

Feierwerk - Orangehouse
December 12, 2023 more
MPI of Quantum Optics | Herbert Walther Lecture Hall
July 14, 2023 more
Group visit at the chair of experimental solid state physics - quantum materials
Talk by Matthew Yankowitz, University of Washington
June 30, 2023 more
IMPRS-QST Summer School & MCQST Conference 
Allgäu Stern Hotel, Sonthofen, Germany
June 19-23, 2023 more
ICFO-IMPRS Joint Workshop 2023
ICFO - The Institute of Photonic Sciences, Castelldefels, Spain
April 19-21, 2023
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Munich-Berkeley Winter School on Quantum Information Science
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California
January 9-13, 2023 more

2022

MPQ Graching
November 28-29, 2024 more
IMPRS-QST Visit to IQM Munich
IQM Germany in Munich
December 2, 2022 more
July 18th-22nd, 2022IMPRS-QST Summer SchoolMontafon, Austria

July 18th-22nd, 2022

IMPRS-QST Summer School
Montafon, Austria

Invited lectures:
- Quantum Simulation of Gauge Theories
Fabian Grusdt, LMU Munich
- Non-equilibrium and transport phenomena in ultracold gases
Tilman Esslinger, ETH Zürich
- Quantum dynamics and topology
Nigel Cooper, University of Cambridge
- Thermodynamics and order beyond equilibrium - from eigenstate thermalisation to time crystals
Roderich Moessner, MPI-PKS Dresden

June 30th, 2022

IMPRS-QST Seminar Series
Course by Matteo Schiavon, Sorbonne University

Distributing cryptographic keys using quantum mechanics: an overview of quantum key distribution protocols
 

Time: June 30th, 2022, 10 am - 5 pm
Location: Herbert Walther Lecture Hall, MPQ Garching

Among the different applications of quantum mechanics to the domain of information and communication theory, quantum key distribution is the protocol that currently shows the higher level of maturity, as underlined by the emergence of a quite consistent industrial sector exploiting it. This protocol allows to exchange cryptographic keys in an unconditionally secure way, meaning that an adversary, even with infinite computationally resources, has no information about it. In these lectures, I will introduce this protocol, explaining from where the security comes and which different properties of a quantum system can be used to implement it. In particular, I will focus on the two main families of protocols, using discrete variables (DV), where the information is encoded in the superposition of the different modes of a single photon, and continuous variables (CV), that exploit the quadratures of the electromagnetic field. I will then give some examples of practical implementation of these protocols.
April 27th - 28th, 2022PhD Conference of the Quantum Alliance and IMPRS-QST 
Time: April 27-28, 2022
Location: Messe München

The PhD Conference of the Quantum Alliance and IMPRS-QST took place in Munich at Messe München during the World of QUANTUM trade fair.

This conference brought together over 80 young researchers from the quantum research clusters and centers within the Quantum Alliance. All participants contributed to an exiting program of poster sessions and talks, both general and specialized. The schedule also included visits to the fair and the participation of the students at different exhibition stands related to the Quantum Alliance. Different networking and social activities rounded up the program.
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September 13-16, 2021QWiZ 2021Joint IMPRS-ETH Zurich Quantum Workshop

September 13-16, 2021

QWiZ 2021

Joint IMPRS-ETH Zurich Quantum Workshop

The workshop is aimed at the PhD students and postdocs in quantum physics (both theoretical and experimental) within ETH and IMPRS network, and strives to cover most of the state-of-art research done in the field.

QWiZ 2021 brings a unique opportunity for young researchers from both IMPRS and ETH to broaden their knowledge and initiate fruitful collaborations and discussions.

For more information about the program, please visit the QWiZ website.

Registration for this event is closed. Missed the deadline? Email us: qwiz@phys.ethz.ch!
July 12th - 16th, 2021IMPRS-MPHQ-BeyondC online Summer School 2021

The summer school is jointly organized with the Harvard Physics Department, as part of the MPHQ collaboration, as well as together with the special research programme BeyondC.

One of the main objectives of this joint event is to foster networking and promote collaboration. Thus, the program includes many interactive sessions, social activities, posters and PhD presentations.

The scientific program will focus on the topics of  NISQ Era Quantum Computing and Topological Phases in Quantum Gases. Invited speakers include
- Prof. Monika Aidelsburger (LMU)
- Prof. Nathan Goldman (ULB)
- Prof. John Martinis (UCSB)
- Prof. Irfan Siddiqi (UC Berkeley)
- Prof. Nathan Wiebe (UW)

To round up the program, we will organize an industry session and soft skills training: a webinar on the topic of mental health with Dr. Desiree Dickerson, and a talk on how to build a strong working relationship with the PhD supervisor by Dr. Martin Fladerer.

The summer school will be hosted on MeetAnyway with the support of MCQST.

Registration for this event has ended. more

IMPRS-QST and MCQST teamed up once again for a second edition of exciting workshops on science communication. This time, the focus is laid on learning and practicing important skills for communicating scientific research effectively to a broad audience. The goal is to combine effective skill learning with fun exercises, resulting not only in highly improved communication skills throughout different formats and media, but also in skills which you can use every day.


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Are you looking for ways to take your research from the lab to the market? Are you thinking of bringing your ideas to life and looking for ways to fund them? Don’t know where to start? Join our event on April 27th to get some of the answers.

Munich has a lot offer when it comes to technology and innovation, and we are excited to support our community. IMPRS-QST and MCQST have teamed up to bring together the many services and support programs available for entrepreneurs with big ideas. We have also invited companies working in the field of quantum technologies, at different stages of development, to share their stories and experience.

Join the online event on April 27th to find out more about the many opportunities for bringing your research to market, to meet the invited founders, and get inspired.

Program:

16:00 | Introduction to support programs and services
- Sam Kearney - Creative Destruction Lab (CDL)
- Philipp Gerbert - UnternehmerTUM
- Philipp Landerer- LMU Spin-Off Service
- Sebastian Meyer-Borchert - Max Planck Innovation

16:30 | Meet the the funders
- Jonathan Noé - Qlibri
- Tomek Schulz - kiutra
- Magdalena Hauser - ParityQC
- Thomas Monz - Alpine Quantum Technologies (AQT)

17:15 | Panel discussion (all guests)
Moderation: Khaled Karrai - attocube

18:00 | Meet our guests at their virtual booths

more
March 23rd-26th, 2021ICFO-IMPRS joint workshop

The second edition of the ICFO-IMPRS joint workshop brings together PhD students from both institutes and offers a great opportunity for networking.

The program includes invited talks, poster sessions and PhD presentations, as well as an industry session. Invited speakers:
ICFO: Prof. Leticia Tarruell, Prof. Antonio Acín, Prof. Hugues de Riedmatten.
IMPRS/MCQST: Prof. Ignacio Cirac, Prof. Immanuel Bloch, Dr. Fabian Grusdt.
External: Prof. Pablo Jarillo-Herrero, Prof. Vedran Dunjko, Prof. Stephanie Wehner.

The workshop is held online via MeetAnyway with the support of MCQST.

All talks are available online on the ICFO YouTube channel! more

November 18th, 2020

IMPRS-QST Seminar Series
Course by Tobias Krähenmann, TU Delft

Introduction to semiconductor spin-qubits

Time: 9 am - 12:30 pm
Zoom: https://tinyurl.com/imprs-seminar

Semiconductor spin-qubits are a promising platform for quantum computation. We will discuss the relevant basics of semiconductor quantum dots and how to utilize them as spin qubits. The basics of quantum information processing and how this can be implemented in spins in semiconductors will be discussed. An overview of the experimental efforts in the field will be presented.

February 3rd, 2020

IMPRS-QST Career Talk by Sean Oh
Creative Destruction Lab's Quantum Program

Time: February 3rd, 2020, 11 a.m.
Location: Herbert Walther lecture hall, MPQ

Creative Destruction Lab - Quantum Program
The emerging technology of quantum computing has the potential to solve problems that we simply cannot solve with our traditional model of computing. Now is a critical time for the field; progress is being fueled more and more by industry than by academic research, and its near term areas of application are becoming increasingly apparent. At Creative Destruction Lab (CDL), we build bridges between science and industry by providing high-value, targeted business judgment to early-stage, science-based startups.

In this program, we support individual applicants, pre incorporated teams and early-stage startups to build massively scalable businesses using quantum computing in both software and hardware applications. In this talk, we introduce how graduate students and researchers, with their specific domain knowledge, can add incredible value as founders to such quantum ventures to solve the real-world problem today.

Sean Oh is a Venture Manager and Recruitment Lead at Creative Destruction Lab’s Quantum Program. Past two years, Sean worked closely with 15 quantum startups and recruited over 100 startups and individual founders for the Quantum Program.
 
Time: January 30th-February 1st, 2020, 10 am - 5:30 pm
Location: lecture hall B0.32, MPQ Garching

IMPRS-QST and MCQST have teamed up to offer this exciting workshop focused on science communication. The workshop combines theoretical input and learning with hands-on and creative methods in order to provide a framework for deep learning. Three days are divided in two 1-day workshops and one final “team day” which ends in a science show. The goal is to combine effective skill learning with fun exercises, resulting not only in highly improved communication skills throughout different formats, but also in an engaging science show format. Overall, it will be a great learning and self-improvement experience. more
Time: January 21st, 2020, 10 am - 5 pm
Location: lecture hall B0.32, MPQ Garching

Quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) algorithms are a very useful tool to investigate interacting quantum systems of fermions and/or bosons. They can be applied to realistic model such as graphene in order to study, for example, the velocity renormalization of the Dirac cone due to Coulomb repulsion. QMC methods can also be used to study phase transition in designer models in order to extract universal features such as the critical exponents which, for example, determine the scaling of the specific heat with temperature. This is seminar is planned to contain three parts: (i) an introduction to the fermionic determinantal QMC method, (ii) a discussion of selected application of this method, and (iii) a tutorial to the "Algorithms for Lattice Fermions (ALF)" software package with a hands-on session.
During the first part, the details of the algorithm will be discussed in some detail. This will include the idea of the method, potential pitfalls (such as the sign problem and auto-correlation times) and how to identify those issues. The application of the QMC method to various interacting topological systems will be discussed in the second part. The selection of models includes (1) a two-dimensional system with an isolated narrow topological band at partial filling with local attractive interactions, motivated by the superconducting state in twisted bi-layer graphene, (2) local moments, which may form a quantum spin liquid, that are Kondo-coupled to a Dirac semi-metal, and if time permits (3) the reduction of the non-interacting topological classification in the presence of correlations. The last part is going to be a hands-on tutorial about our free and publicly available software package ALF. This includes the compilation and simulation of predefined models, simple modifications and/or additions of observables, as well as a discussion of all code sections that are relevant to a new user-defined model system. more
The MCQST Colloquium Series features interdisciplinary talks given by visiting international speakers. For the X-Mas Colloquium on December 11th, MCQST members and IMPRS-QST students have accepted the challenge of presenting their research projects in short talks taillored for both scientific and non-scienttific MCQST community. We are excited about this special edition and look forward to their engaging talks. more

October 7th, 2019

Kick-Off Session
Special Training on Stress Management for Doctoral Students

Jointly organized by IMPRS-QST and IMPRS-APS in cooperation with the TK health insurance. The seminars of this training are designed for the specific situations and needs of doctoral researchers and geared to help you understand stress, as well as how to protect yourself from its negative effects. You will learn different approaches to stress management, practice several relaxation methods and get useful tools beneficial for both your professional and private life.
This year the IMPRS-QST Summer School was jointly organized with the Max Planck Harvard Research Center for Quantum Optics (MPHQ).<br />Participants both from Harvard and IMPRS highlight the best aspects and moments of this great event!

July 22nd-26th, 2019

Joint IMPRS-MPHQ Summer School
Bad Aibling, Germany

This year the IMPRS-QST Summer School was jointly organized with the Max Planck Harvard Research Center for Quantum Optics (MPHQ).
Participants both from Harvard and IMPRS highlight the best aspects and moments of this great event!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOaYmIOoi3M

June 18th-19th, 2019

IMPRS-QST seminar series
Block course by Giuseppe Carleo, Flat Iron Institute

Machine Learning Techniques for Many-Body quantum systems: theory and experiments

Lectures and tutorials

Time: June 18th-19th, 2019
Location: seminar room E0.11, MPA Garching

These lectures covered the main machine learning techniques adopted to study interacting quantum systems. First the concept of neural-network quantum states, a representation of the many-body wave-function based on artificial neural networks was introduced. Then, it was shown how these representations can be used in a variety of applications, including examples for data-driven, experimental analysis in the context of quantum state tomography. It was also shown how these states can be used in variational applications to theoretically study the physical properties of interacting many-body quantum systems both at equilibrium and out-of-equilibrium. The lectures were followed by hands-on sessions, based on the open-source software NetKet.

December 5th, 2018

Special lecture by Prof. Assa Auerbach, Technion - Israel Institute of Technology

The 2nd Law: History and Fiction    

Time: Wednesday, December 5th, 4:30 pm
Location: MPQ lecture hall, B 0.32

The talk discussed the history of Maxwell’s Demon, the Second Law of Thermodynamics, and its connection to Information Theory. It showed how these concepts can be explained to non-physicists in a comic book of an adventure story called “Max the Demon vs Entropy of Doom’’

December 3rd - 4th, 2018

Recent Advances in Quantum Science and Technology
Joint Workshop of IMPRS-QST, CoQuS and the Innsbruck Physics Research Center  

A joint workshop with the primary goal of establishing connections between the students from the three institutions and stimulate discussions among them. The program included talks by two PIs of each institution: Immanuel Bloch and Matthias Punk from IMPRS-QST, Johannes Fink and Jörg Schmiedmayer from CoQus and Lauriane Chomaz and Wolfgang Lechner from Innsbruck. Moreover, Klaus Sengstock from the University of Hamburg also gave a presentation on his exciting research!

November 8th, 2018

IMPRS-QST seminar series
Olivier Darrigol, CNRS & Paris Diderot University

Title: The magic of Feyman's QED
Time: Thursday, November 8th, 4 pm
Location: MPQ lecture hall B 0.32

For a long time, and even after the Feynman diagrams and rules were publicly known, Feynman's approach to quantum electrodynamics remained largely private. For this reason, its stupendous efficiency sounded like magic to most of his contemporaries. The purpose of this essay is to bring out the hidden contrivances of this magic.


July 19th, 2018

IMPRS-QST seminar series
Prof. Stefanie Barz, University of Stuttgart

Photonic quantum technologies: From foundations to applications

July 11th, 2018

Career Talk by Dr. Enno Aufderheide, Secretary General of the Humboldt Foundation

Furthering your career:
- Postdoc opportunities in the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation’s global network
- Research management: An alternative for you?

June 19th, 2018

IMPRS-QST seminar series
Prof. Stefan Kehrein, University of Göttingen

Non-Equilibrium Dynamics of Quantum Many-Body Systems: Irreversibility and the Quantum Butterfly Effect
June 4th to 8th, 2018IMPRS-QST Summer SchoolOetz, Austria

June 4th to 8th, 2018

IMPRS-QST Summer School
Oetz, Austria

Topics:
- Neural Networks and Machine Learning
David Dahmen, FZ Jülich and Juan Carrasquilla, Vector Institute Toronto
- Quantum Technology
Tommaso Calarco, University of Ulm
- Dualities in Condensed Matter Theory
Inti Sodemann, MPI for Complex Systems, Dresden

May 17th, 2018

IMPRS-QST seminar series
Prof. Nicolas Gisin, University of Geneva  

From Newton Nonlocality to Quantum Teleportation

May 7th - 8th, 2018

The Art of Presenting Science
with Gijs Meeusen from Artesc

Lecture on "Discovering the First Law of Stage Acting" and several workshops including individual coaching
September 18th - 22nd, 2017Joint CoQuS and IMPRS-QST Summer School on Complex Quantum SystemsAtominstitut, TU Wien, Vienna

September 18th - 22nd, 2017

Joint CoQuS and IMPRS-QST Summer School on Complex Quantum Systems
Atominstitut, TU Wien, Vienna

The Summer School included five series of lectures held by international experts on both theoretical and experimental quantum physics.

May 18th, 2017

Career Talk by Dr. Susanne Pielava, Google
From Theoretical Physics to Algorithms  

During their undergraduate and graduate studies, physicists acquire a broad set of transferable skills which make many career paths available, also outside of academia.
After a postdoc in condensed matter theory, Dr. Susanne Pielawa joined a start-up as an early employee, and developed algorithms for a 3D-model search engine. She is now a Software Engineer at Google Munich.
A joint initiative of four International Max Planck Research School, including IMPRS-QST. more

March 29th-31st, 2017

Joint IMPRS-QST and TopMath Spring School on Quantum entropy and its use
Abtei Frauenwörth, Chiemsee

Entropy is a central quantity in information theory, probability and physics. This spring school dealt with fundamental concepts and basic operational interpretations of entropy with a particular focus on applications to quantum mechanics.
February 20th, 2017IMPRS-QST industry excursion Visit to Google Munich Office

February 20th, 2017

IMPRS-QST industry excursion
Visit to Google Munich Office

October 27th - 28th, 2016Munich Quantum Symposium 2016
Kick-off event of the IMPRS-QST and MQC day in a joint workshop more
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