HBSM-2018 Conference in Suzdal, Russia, and the activities of the Russian EPS Young Minds section
Suzdal, a small ancient city in Russia 260 km from Moscow, hosted on August 6-11 the 13th International Conference on “Hole Burning, Single Molecules, and Related Spectroscopies: Science and Applications” (HBSM-2018), which was organised in Russia for the first time. It covered such topics as photoinduced phenomena in solids (spectral holes burning, photophysics of biomolecules and molecular complexes, photon echo and ultrafast processes, optical dephasing and spectral diffusion), single nano-systems and nano-optics (spectroscopy of single molecules and nano-particles, single bio-molecules and quantum dots, single ions and color centers in solids and nano-crystals, nanoscopy, near-field spectroscopy and nano-plasmonics, nonlinear optical effects), functional nano-materials (optical labels, organic and inorganic systems, photovoltaic applications, hybrid systems, nano-sensorics), and optical signal processing and quantum technologies.
This top-level conference attracted many key scientists from all over the world, including Nobel prize winner W.E. Moerner (Stanford, USA), M. Orrit (Leiden, Netherlands), T. Basche (Mainz, Germany), P. Bushev (Saarland, Germany), M.Dramićanin (Belgrade, Serbia), A.Evlyukhin (Odense, Denmark), P.Frantsuzov (MSU, Russia), P.Goldner (Paris, France), G. Golzman (MSPU, Russia), R. Jankowiak (Kansas, USA), J.Köhler (Bayreuth, Germany), M. Kuno (Notre Dame, USA), G. Leuchs (Erlangen, Germany), A. Meixner (Tübingen, Germany), T. Plakhotnik (Brisbane, Australia), A.Rebane (Montana, USA), V. Sandoghdar (Erlangen, Germany), I. Shcheblykin (Lund, Sweden), M. Vacha (Tokyo, Japan) and many others.
At the opening ceremony, a newly launched Shpol’skii-Rebane-Personov Prize, which was established this year jointly by the Institute of Spectroscopy of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow State Pedagogical University and University of Tartu (Estonia), was awarded to Professor Fedor Jelezko (Ulm Uni., Germany) “for the quantum optics experimental investigations of single molecules and NV centers in diamonds and their applications for magnetometry and quantum informatics” (see the picture).
Also, with the financial support of the EPS, the EPS Young Minds section in Russia (at the Institute of Spectroscopy and Moscow State Pedagogical University) organised a remarkable round table of Profs. W.E. Moerner, M.Orrit, G. Leuchs, V.N. Zadkov, V. Sandoghdar and F. Jelezko for the undergraduate and graduate students, answering their numerous questions and giving them suggestions on the possible tracks of their careers. In addition, the EPS Young Minds section organised a competition for the best poster and oral talks given by young researchers.
In total, roughly 150 participants from 17 countries took part in the conference from Australia, Belarus, Belgium, Germany, Denmark, India, China, Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Serbia, USA, France, Switzerland, Sweden, Estonia, and Japan. The next HBSM conference will be held in 2021 at Banz Castle (Bad Staffelstein, Germany).
