Schrödinger's cat, wormholes, and similar topics are discussed far more often than they actually deserve in real research. At the same time, many exciting, beautiful, useful, and promising fields receive far less attention. Photonic crystals are one such example.

The idea itself is beautiful: photonic crystals allow us to create high-brightness single-photon sources. They are essential for the operation of single-photon light sources and for building quantum-secured communications.

The same applies to quantum cryptography in general. We hear much more about quantum computers, but much less about quantum cryptography, even though it is necessary, feasible, and close to real-world application.

At this event, Dr. Alexander Kosarev highlighted promising research topics, showed the beauty of the underlying physics, and explained in simple terms how they work and why they matter.

The lecture was held in English.