Nobel Prizes 2026

From neurons to neutrinos

A laser

on the moon

Magazine

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Schülerlabor — Leopold Klug (13) vom Max-Planck-Gymnasium klärt im Photonlab die Frage, ob ein Interferometer oder ein Spektrometer bestimmte Proben genauer misst. Hier berichtet er, was er vorhat.

Science Videos

The world´s first functioning laser

On May 16, 1960, the laser was born. The device that Theodore Maiman built, still exists. Together with Ted Maiman's lab book, the historic laser is on display at the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics. Dr. Matthew Weidman, group leader of the attosecond metrology 2.0 team in attoworld, explains the individual components and the principle of how a laser works.

65 years of laser technology

Every year on May 16, the world celebrates the International Day of Light to commemorate a milestone in science and technology - the birth of the first laser in 1960. On this day, physicist Theodore H. Maiman succeeded in producing coherent light for the first time. Editorial assistant Umai Umai Galadriel Chibbaro Leiva gives us a brief insight into this.

Alice im Quantenland. Folge 4: Die Zauberwürfel

Alice, Schrödinger und Rabbit verschlägt es in den Märchenwald. Dort erklärt ihnen Quantenphysiker Prof. Reinhold Bertlmann die rätselhafte Quantenverschränkung. Beim verrückten Hutmacher stoßen sie anschließend auf geheimnisvolle Zauberwürfel, die immer die gleichen Ergebnisse zeigen. Als die Königin auftaucht und es auf Alice abgesehen hat, wird es ernst. Können ihr die Zauberwürfel helfen?

STUDENT ZONE

Experiments and more — From competitions, to current events, to a look inside the Photonlab, the student laboratory at the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics. Here, you will find everything worth knowing — especially for students.

BASIC LECTURES

Simply explained — Light is fascinating, hugely versatile and quite complex. With our video series, you can quickly delve into the mysteries surrounding photons, electrons and lasers.

Welcome to Photonworld – a platform for knowledge, interesting facts and science on the topic of light. Photonworld aims to provide a basic understanding of the physics of light and its countless phenomena. From medicine, to art and physics: all topics are covered.

Photonworld originated as an initiative of the excellence cluster the Munich-Centre for Advanced Photonics (MAP) and the Laboratory for Attosecond Physics (LAP) at the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics (MPQ).

The initiator of the project is Prof. Dr. Ferenc Krausz, Chair of Experimental Physics at the LMU and Director of the MPQ.

Photonworld’s Student Zone reports directly out of the PhotonLab, which is supported by the Munich Center for Quantum Science and Technology (MCQST) and the DFG Research Unit FOR 2783. At the PhotonLab, schoolteachers and students can find up-to-date information about experiments and goings-on at the lab, and plan their own visit to the laboratory.