Author: Gertrud Zwicknagl
The first BPU – WE Heraeus School on “Frontiers in Quantum Science and Technologies”
https://bpu12.ucv.ro/frontiers-in-quantum-science-and-technology/ took place at the National University for Science and Technology “Politehnica” in Bucharest from 4th to 8th July 2025 under the sponsorship by the WE Heraeus Foundation, the University of Craiova, the European Integration Committee of the European Physical Society (EPS-EIC) and the Romanian Physical Society. It was organized as a satellite event of the Congress of the Balkan Physical Union (BPU) (https://bpu12.ucv.ro/). The participants were offered the possibility to combine the school with the hands-on session “Frontier of Quantum Technologies”, another satellite event of the BPU 12 Congress held at Politehnica in Bucharest, July 9-10, 2025.
The aim of the school was to deepen the understanding of the quantum world and its applications in quantum technologies. It followed the United Nations General Assembly’s proclamation of the year 2025 as the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology. The school was addressed to early-carrier researchers worldwide, a special emphasis, however, was to establish scientific contacts and partnerships between participants from the Balkans and EU countries.
There was a total of 63 on-site participants, including 47 early-carrier scientists as “students”. The students came from European laboratories, mainly from BPU member countries. To our deep regret, several registered students from non-EU countries, in particular from Turkey, were not granted the required visas in good time.
The school programme featured 12 lectures by Luc Bergé (France), Radu Ioniciou (Romania), Aurelian Isar (Romania), Florian Marquardt (Germany), Tilman Pfau (Germany), Christophe Rossel (Switzerland), Marina Rotaru (Romania), Petra Rudolf (The Netherlands), Jörg Schmalian (Germany), Calin Alexandru Ur (Romania), Fabian Wolf (Germany), George Zoupanos (Greece). The lectures gave a comprehensive overview over fundamental quantum phenomena on all length and time scales, their role in the second quantum revolution in extending and enhancing established technologies as well as providing new applications.
The students were asked to present their research interests which enabled intensive scientific exchange. A highlight was the visit to the Extreme Light Infrastructure (ELI) in Magurele, the world’s largest laser.
The richness of the presentations and the discussions in a warm, collegial atmosphere among participants were key to the success of this memorable event.
We thank the organizing team and helpers for their dedicated assistance and the WE Heraeus Foundation, the University of Craiova, the European Physical Society and the Romanian Physical Society for their generous financial support.
- Scientific organizers, German side:
Gertrud Zwicknagl, TU Braunschweig, Braunschweig, Germany - Scientific organizers, Balkan Physical Union side:
Radu Constantinescu University of Craiova, Romania
Aurelian Isar National Institute of Physics and Nuclear Energy (NIPNE), Magurele, Romania
Dumitru Chirlesan, Politehnica University Bucharest, Romania
