Modern Physics, Baroque Castle

SuperQumap

Last week, I had the great pleasure to attend the European COST Action CA21144 SuperQumap Conference 2025 on “Superconducting Nanodevices and Quantum Materials for Coherent Manipulation: Topological States in Superconductors and Magnets”. This conference not only has possibly the longest ever conference name (needs to be checked!) but it was also held in arguably one of the most regal settings for a physics conference: the Baroque castle in the village of Liblice, Czechia. Somewhat surprisingly, the chateau now belongs to the Czech Academy of Sciences, which is certainly a very enviable asset.

The conference covered a broad spectrum of novel superconductivity, unusual topological states, nanostructured devices and exotic magnetism. I was very pleased to be invited to share our results on vortex behaviour in the ferromagnetic superconductor EuFe\(_2\)(As\(_{1-x}\)P\(_x\))\(_2\). I was also very pleased to learn, on the day before my presentation, that our manuscript results was accepted for publication in Communications Materials! The conference was also expertly organised by the local members of the COST Action group. Thank you, organisers!

In addition to the science, I had a great time having engaging discussions, enjoying some very tasty food, a very generous wine “tasting” (more like “drinking”) and introducing some uninitiated to the wonders of Scotch whisky. Hope to see you guys again soon!