A cruise into the world of quanta

From November 1 to 5, 2017, the Paul Drude Institute (PDI) for Solid State Electronics will host an interactive pop-up exhibition on the world of quantum mechanics. The exhibition is presented by the IQC (Institute for Quantum Computing) of the University of Waterloo with support from the Canadian Embassy. The Berlin physicists of the host institute will complement the exhibition with The Quantum Lab featuring exhibits on their current research. PDI wants to give Berlin Science Week visitors a unique experience of complex matter.

Nowadays, many people find it difficult to access physics. It is especially difficult with the physics of quantum phenomena, which often contradict every intuition. But we come into contact with quantum mechanics (QM) all the time, for example, when we use a laser pointer or hard disk memory in a computer.

The popular science Canadian pop-up exhibit offers a didactic and intuitive approach to complex QM that promises to be as smooth as a cruise on a luxury liner. But even a luxury liner becomes more complex upon closer inspection - and much more exciting if you dare to look into the engine room:

In this exhibition, PDI is the workshop and engine room for tomorrow's technology and its scientists are the machinists. There, fundamental research on matter is conducted on an extremely small scale - a piece of matter consisting of only a few atoms and their electrons. At such small scales, the behavior of matter is no longer classical, but can be described using QM.

Compared to the pop-up exhibition, the PDI exhibits provide a realistic insight into complex research. The visitor is given a gateway into the future of our electronics and shown the perspectives of computer technology. But also the current state of science and research needs will be conveyed: The dreamed quantum computer is still in the future, but without these machinists of the QM-luxury liners it will also never be realized.