Mission

Mission

The establishment of the Max Planck Harvard Research Center for Quantum Optics fits perfectly into the  Max Planck Society's general efforts to enhance its international scientific collaborations with excellent research institutions worldwide. Hereby, the Max Planck Research Centers are to serve as a platform to generate new scientific synergies between bilateral and multilateral partners, stimulate the attraction and exchange of high profile researchers between the participating institutions by mutually supporting and training young scientists at PhD and Post-Doc level to live up to their full potential. In this context, the Max Planck Research Center for Quantum Optics aims at becoming one of the major internationally recognised interdisciplinary scienctific collaborations of its kind in the field of Quantum Optics by generating new synergies in research between the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics and the Physics Department at Harvard University.

The Physics Department at Harvard University and the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics (MPQ) are leading research centers in the field of Quantum Science. In the past years, individual collaborations among the members of both institutions have resulted in ground- breaking research in several areas, including ultracold quantum gases, quantum information processing and communication, and quantum simulation. We envision a co-operation to strengthen and expand those collaborations, develop new synergies to address most challenging problems, as well as to promote and exchange excellent young scientists. The complementary expertise of Harvard and the Max Planck Society (MPG) will foster the development of new research directions, well beyond the current activities.

The main objectives and goals of the center include:

  • within the interdisciplinary field of quantum science, accomplishing cutting-edge, frontier defining research that could not be addressed by the individual partners alone.
  • promoting the career development of young scientists ranging from graduate students to junior group leaders and junior faculty members.
  • initiating innovative and collaborative research projects between MPG and Harvard.
  • attracting outstanding young scientists (PhD students and Postdocs) to be part of and enhance this unique scientific milieu, and supporting them in a top-level scientific environment.
  • establishing a center on quantum science that is internationally recognized as a worldwide leader.
  • providing a role model for international collaborative activities in science.
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