Quantum in the Crowd

The outreach team were once again invited out of the lab and on an early morning training to London to present the latest and greatest in quantum engineering. After an early morning start, and accidental seat reservation in the quiet carriage, we arrived at the Royal Society to take part EPSRC's Science for a Successful Nation 2018. The event aims to showcase EPSRC's investments and demonstrate their social, cultural and economic impacts. Bristol University was well represented with stands from the Bristol Robotics Laboratory and the Jean Golding Institute. In amongst the exhibits were students from the Quantum Engineering CDT and QETLabs demonstrating the importance of data encryption in a connected society. By showing how readily data can be intercepted on network, it is easily seen that we need to invest in data security to ensure it's remains secure in the near future. The event was well attended by EPSRC representatives and industrial partners. ...

New students means new opportunities to get out of the lab and teaching the public about the weird world of quantum technology. But first, we need to show everyone what demos we have available. This afternoon, we invited the whole group to see what our engagement cupboard has to offer. Euan Allen showing some of our new(ish) CDT students how to use our Galton Box. Seasoned veterans through to those new to public engagement joined us to get hands on with our demos. Everything from hand held busking demos to more technical demos was on offer to have a play with. Everyone pitched in to find out what is on offer. Sam Morley-Short and Stasja   Stanisic building some origami microscopes With everyone well trained in how to operate our kit, watch out for us at the next science festival and join us to learn more about quantum mechanics! What's that up there? Some of our CDT students getting hands on with our spectrometers.

This time, the very first members of the public visiting UnitDX's sparkling new laboratories were neither local officials nor scientists, but children from local schools coming to discover how science will be used to engineer their futures. Arriving two days before the official opening of the site, the children had the opportunity explore a number of different exhibits, from donning VR headsets to interactive play with molecules, to lab coats for chromatography.  At the event, students from Bristol Optical Students Society (BOSS) and QETLabs presented demonstrations of the fundamental concepts underpinning the cutting-edge research of the University of Bristol quantum photonics group. Their first demo displayed the apparent "magic" of optical fibres, completely trapping light inside without the need of a single mirror. By creating optical fibres of water, the students saw how light can be bent around corners and how this is used in fibre broadband to create super fa...