Monument Day offered visitors a rare glimpse behind the scenes of IQOQI Vienna, bringing together the institute’s rich scientific heritage and its pioneering research in quantum information and quantum technologies.

Senior researcher Armin Shayeghi, who leads the precision-gravity experiments in Markus Aspelmeyer’s group, gave an introductory talk on the institute’s research and history. Together with Philipp Rieser, he later introduced visitors to their precision-gravity experiments, which use highly sensitive mechanical oscillators to investigate gravitational interactions at very small scales.

Quantum physics enthusiasts will certainly be familiar with Young’s famous double-slit experiment, which demonstrates the wave-like nature of light through its characteristic interference pattern. Researcher Yanick Willert from Anton Zeilinger's group presented a double-slit experiment using entangled photons.

A particular highlight was the Hedy Lamarr Telescope on the institute’s rooftop, named after the famous Austrian-American actress and inventor. The telescope is currently used to establish a 10.2 km free-space quantum communication channel between the sending station at IQOQI Vienna (Alice) and a receiving station at the Bisamberg laboratory (Bob). The link has been used for quantum communication experiments by the Zeilinger and Huber groups at IQOQI Vienna, and was presented by senior researcher Alois Mair.