- 31st August – 5th September 2025
- Residencia La Cristalera, Miraflores de la Sierra, Madrid
- Organized by The Nicolás Cabrera Institute (INC)
- Sponsors: UAM & FBBVA
The International Summer School “Nicolás Cabrera” series, supported by the BBVA Foundation, have been addressing cutting-edge topics in materials science, condensed matter, and material physics since 1994. The School gathers scientists from around the world for a few days of intense scientific exchange in a uniquely pleasant and interactive environment.
The 31st edition, which takes place during the 2025 International Year of Quantum Science and Technology, will focus on quantum technologies, with a special emphasis on light-based platforms. Quantum photonics is enabling revolutionary advances in secure communication, high-precision metrology, and computational power, with photons as key building blocks for future quantum devices.
The program will cover five core topics:
- Sources of quantum light
- Quantum communication & storage
- Quantum simulation & computation
- Quantum imaging
- Optical neural networks
The lectures will be given by leading researchers and industry representatives, who will also share insights into innovation, startups, and professional opportunities in the European quantum ecosystem.
The school is aimed at PhD students, as well as postdoctoral researchers. Participants may, if they wish, present their work as posters, with a special selection of 10 oral contributions.
The school will take place at the Residence “La Cristalera” in Miraflores de la Sierra, a village 50 km from Madrid, from Monday, September 1st to Friday, September 5th, 2025, with arrival and welcome reception on Sunday, August 31st. A shuttle service between Madrid (city centre and airport) and the venue will be provided.
The registration fee is 550€, covering the attendance at the school, accommodation at “La Cristalera” for 5 nights, all meals and coffee breaks, the conference dinner, social activities and excursion, and pre-organised shuttles Madrid-La Cristalera-Madrid
LINK TO PARTICIPANTS PRE-REGISTRATION (from 11/04/2025 to 01/06/2025)
LINK TO PARTICIPANTS REGISTRATION (link active from 17/06/2025 9:00 pm)
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DATES
Pre-registration
- Start 11/04/2025 9:00 am
- Deadline 01/06/2025 11:59 pm
Paper contributions & registration
- Start 17/06/2025 9:00 pm
- Deadline 21/07/2025 11:59 pm
School dates
- Starting 31/08/2025 5:00 pm
- Closing 05/09/2025 3:00 pm
SCHEDULE
Attendee talks will take place on Monday and Thursday (10 selected talks) allocated with 15 min presentation + 5 min questions.
The poster session will take place on Tuesday. Posters will be displayed in a designated area, allowing participants to walk around, view the posters, and engage in discussions with the presenters.
Please ensure that your poster is in the standard A0 format (841 x 1189 mm).
| Time | Sunday 31st | Monday 1st | Tuesday 2nd | Wednesday 3rd | Thursday 4th | Friday 5th |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9:00 - 9:30 | Opening | |||||
| 9:30 - 11:00 | A. Lvovsky | A. Litvinov | J.I. Cirac | S. Thomas | Quandela/Qilimanjaro | |
| 11:00 - 11:30 | Coffee break | Coffee break | Coffee break | Coffee break | Coffee break | |
| 11:30 - 13:00 | G. Rempe | J. Capmany | E. Diamanti | H. de Riedmatten | Multiverse/LuxQuanta | |
| 13:15 - 15:00 | LUNCH & free time | LUNCH & free time | LUNCH & free time | LUNCH & free time | Closure & LUNCH | |
| 15:00 - 16:30 | C. Toninelli | A. Gonzalez-Tudela | Excursion and social dinner (Segovia) | H. Defienne | ||
| 16:30 - 17:00 | Coffee break | Poster session with drinks and snacks | Coffee break | |||
| 17:00 - 19:00 | Registration | Oral presentations | Oral presentations | |||
| 19:00 - 20:00 | Welcome reception | Free time | Free time | Free time | ||
| 20:00 - ... | DINNER | DINNER | DINNER | BBQ |
ORGANIZERS
SPEAKERS
The INC School has been designed to bring together eleven multidisciplinary experts along the five lines listed before:
(i) Sources of quantum light
Gerhard Rempe, Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics, Germany. Pioneering physicist renowned for his work in quantum optics and atomic physics. His achievements include the first demonstration of a deterministic single-photon source, advances in cavity quantum electrodynamics, and fundamental contributions to quantum communication and information processing using atom-photon interactions.
Costanza Toninelli, National Institute of Optics, CNR, Italy. She has done important contributions to the field of quantum optics, particularly in the development of single-photon sources based on organic molecules. Her research focuses on light-matter interactions in nanostructured materials and their application in quantum technologies.
(ii) Quantum communications & photon storage
Eleni Diamanti, CNRS, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, France. Recognized for her contributions to quantum communication, with a focus on secure quantum cryptography protocols and continuous-variable quantum key distribution. Her work bridges theoretical advancements and experimental implementations in quantum networks.
José Capmany, Universidad Politécnica de Valencia, Spain. Leading researcher in the field of photonics, particularly in microwave photonics and quantum photonics. His work focuses on the development of integrated photonic technologies for communication, sensing, and information processing applications.
Hugues de Riedmatten, The Institute of Photonic Sciences (ICFO), Spain. Known for his contributions to quantum information science, particularly in the development of quantum memories and quantum repeaters. His work focuses on enabling long-distance quantum communication through light-matter interfaces and photon-atom entanglement.
Sarah Thomas, Balliol College, University of Oxford, UK. Emergent researcher focused on optical quantum memories in warm atomic ensembles, which are key devices for the scalability of optical quantum technologies. Sarah explores the interfacing of quantum dot-based photon sources with atomic quantum memories for applications in quantum networks.
(iii) Quantum simulation & computation
Andrea Litvinov, Universität Innsbruck and Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information, Austria. Andrea is a researcher in the Erbium team led by Francesca Ferlaino, where he investigates strongly magnetic atomic systems using ultracold Erbium gases. His work focuses on the experimental study of dipolar quantum phenomena, quantum many-body physics, and novel quantum phases emerging from long-range interactions.
Alejandro González Tudela, Instituto de Física Fundamental, CSIC, Spain. Recognized for his work in theoretical quantum optics and quantum many-body physics. His research focuses on light-matter interactions in structured photonic environments and their applications to quantum simulation and quantum information processing.
Ignacio Cirac, Max-Planck-Institute of Quantum Optics, Germany. Principal figure in quantum information science, known for his foundational contributions to quantum computing, quantum simulation, and quantum communication. His work includes the development of models for quantum gates, entanglement theory, and the study of many-body quantum systems.
(iv) Quantum imaging
Hugo Defienne, CNRS, Sorbonne University, France. Emergent researcher with notable contributions to quantum imaging and quantum optics. His research focuses on the development of novel imaging techniques and the exploration of light-matter interactions at the quantum level, with applications in quantum microscopy.
(v) Optical neural networks
Alexander Lvovsky, University of Oxford, UK. Renowned for his work in quantum state reconstruction, continuous-variable systems, and quantum memories. His recent research explores optical neural networks for scalable and efficient information processing, intelligent robotics and quantum machine learning.
– Invited startups and companies:
Quandela SAS, France. Niccolo Somaschi (CEO). Leading company in quantum photonics, specializing in the development of high-performance single-photon sources and integrated photonic solutions for quantum computing.
Multiverse Quantum Computing, Spain. Román Orús (CSO). Focused on developing quantum software solutions, with a particular emphasis on quantum optimization and simulation for industry applications.
LuxQuanta, Spain. Samael Sarmiento (R&D Engineer). Specialized in quantum cryptography technologies, focusing on developing secure communication systems based on quantum key distribution.
Qilimanjaro Quantum Tech, Spain. Marta P Estarellas (CEO). A leading company in analog quantum computing, Qilimanjaro focuses on developing quantum processors based on superconducting qubits and user-oriented software for real-world quantum advantage. Their integrated approach bridges hardware and algorithms to address optimization and simulation problems with early quantum hardware.
ACCOMODATION AND TRANSPORT
La Cristalera features single and shared double/triple rooms.
Single rooms will be preferentially assigned to speakers.
During the registration process, you may indicate the name of one or more attendees you would like to share a room with during the School (see registration)
HOW TO REACH LA CRISTALERA
La Cristalera is located in Miraflores de la Sierra, a small town 45 minutes by car North of Madrid city.
A shuttle will be organized between the Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport and the residence La Cristalera with a stop in between at the Plaza de Castilla (bus station) with the following schedule:
– Sunday, August 31st
17:00, Airport T2 (Bus bays, see link to position 1 or Taxi bays, see link to position 2)
18:00 Pº Castellana, 214 (next to the Churrería, see link) – La Cristalera.
19:00 La Cristalera
– Friday, September 5th, 15:30, La Cristalera – Plaza de Castilla – Airport T2
We kindly ask you to plan your arrival to Madrid accordingly.
How to get to Miraflores de la Sierra by public transportation:
There is a bus from Madrid to Miraflores de la Sierra which leaves from the bus station located in Plaza de Castilla (bus number 725), this bus departs from the “Intercambiador de Transportes de Plaza de Castilla”, basement -2 (see link). The estimated duration of the journey is approximately one hour. The bus stops in the centre of Miraflores de la Sierra. Afterwards, there is a thirty-minute walk until the venue (see the walk) or asking for a taxi is required to reach to the venue La Cristalera (Taxi service in Miraflores de la Sierra: Ángel Redondo, +34 615 278 090).
Information about the Residence “La Cristalera“:
M-611, km 10, 28792 Miraflores de la Sierra, Madrid.
Tel: 91497 65 98/65 99.
Contact person: Ana Martinez, ,