On June 10–11, 2026, the Institute of Physics of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw hosted the 2nd Masovian Symposium on Quantum, Optical and aTomic Physics (MaSQOT) – a biennial meeting that gathers researchers from the Masovian region working in quantum, optical, and atomic physics, from students to professors. The event is co-organized by the Institute of Physics PAS, the Center for Theoretical Physics PAS, and the Faculty of Physics of the University of Warsaw. The organizing committee included Dr. hab. Michał Karpiński, leader of QLAB’s Quantum Communication Infrastructure and Photonic Information Processing group, who also chaired one of the sessions on the first day.
On the second day of the symposium, Prof. Magdalena Stobińska-Moretto, Director of QLAB, delivered the talk “Long-range photonic device-independent quantum key distribution using SPDC sources and linear optics”. She presented a device-independent quantum key distribution (DI QKD) protocol developed by her team, which overcomes long-standing range barriers using standard photon sources (SPDC) and linear optics – the foundation of secure communication in which confidentiality is guaranteed by the laws of physics rather than by trust in hardware.
QLAB’s presence at MaSQOT went further still: Dr. hab. Radosław Łapkiewicz, leader of the Quantum Imaging and Metrology group, spoke about imaging through scattering media, and young researchers associated with our teams presented posters – including on long-range DI QKD and on high-dimensional quantum key distribution with resource-efficient detection.
The first edition of MaSQOT, held in 2024, attracted nearly 100 participants. For QLAB, the symposium is an important part of building the regional quantum ecosystem – an opportunity to exchange ideas, start new collaborations, and meet the most talented students and doctoral researchers who may one day join the Center’s teams.