Atomic Summer Camp 2021

Short report on the Atomic Summer Camp 2021 at MPIPKS, 26-30 July 2021

The Atomic Summer Camp 2021 at MPIPKS did successfully (re-)establish a new, strictly analog seminar format: A relatively small number of participants (approx. 40), dedicated discussion slots after each talk, most talks given by young scientists between M.Sc. and early PostDoc level, permanent attendance and contributions by a small group of senior scientists, unstable internet connectivity in the lecture hall tent preventing the audience to work on their emails, and outdoor social events altogether created an informal, curiosity-driven and - under the wide AMO+quantum science umbrella - rather interdisciplinary, vivid and open-minded scientific discourse. Scientific topics covered a broad range of recent experimental and theoretical ideas and results, from light-matter interaction phenomena in solids, over many-particle coherence properties, to the creation of entanglement in molecular degrees of freedom. The open atmosphere seeded scientific interactions between several of the participating groups, with the potential for new collaborations.

The camp format, developed under the boundary conditions of the pandemic with talks in an open tent, and discussions as well as other activities taking place outdoors, prompted enthusiastic reactions and may prove in the future as a new and additional conference format for MPIPKS.

Andreas Buchleitner, Jan Michael Rost and Thomas Pfeifer
August, 2021