Left: Ferdi Schüth, Allan Rock, and Mona Nemer sign a memorandum of understanding to establish a new Max Planck Center in Ottawa, Canada. Credit: © Luc Gauthier / University of Ottawa
06 June 2015—The University of Ottawa (Canada) has announced a formal partnership with the Max Planck Society of Germany to establish a research center specializing in quantum photonics and lasers. The “Max Planck-University of Ottawa Centre for Extreme and Quantum Photonics” will link activities at both research institutions, such as the development of high intensity lasers for advanced manufacturing processes, new optical methods for secure quantum communications over fiber, and new devices for quantum and classical photonics.
The president of the University of Ottawa, Allan Rock, joined the vice president of research at the Max Planck Society, Mona Nemer, and vice president of the Max Planck Society, Ferdi Schüth, in the signing of the memorandum of understanding to put the research program into motion. The program will enable young researchers to explore the different scientific cultures in Canada and Germany.
The principal researchers at the new Max Planck center will include OSA Fellow Gerd Leuchs, director of optics and information at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light (Erlangen, Germany); OSA President Philip Russell, director of photonic crystal fibers at the Erlangen institute; and OSA Fellow Vahid Sandoghdar, director of nanooptics, also in Erlangen. Joining them will be Ottawa-based professors Paul Corkum, OSA Fellow and research chair in attosecond photonics at the National Research Council-Canada; Robert Boyd, OSA Fellow and Canada excellence research chair in quantum nonlinear optics; and Pierre Berini, University of Ottawa research chair in surface plasmon photonics.