Thi Hoang presenting at CLEO 2025.
Thi Hoang winning the Quantum Slam Prize at CLEO 2025.
In a thrilling display of scientific communication and creativity, Thi Hoang, a graduate student at JILA, emerged victorious at the inaugural Quantum Science Slam held during the Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics (CLEO) 2025. This new event, celebrating 100 Years of Quantum, designed to bring cutting-edge science to life for a broader audience, saw participants deliver engaging and entertaining 10-minute presentations on their research.
Hoang captivated the audience with her presentation One, Two, Three Photons—shedding light onto the quantum world and quantum technology, one photon at a time. She discussed the development of our understanding of light, from rays of light to light as coherent waves that can be created through laser, along with all the technologies that this knowledge has rewarded us with.
"Now in our research, we are looking at the next big understanding of light as discrete particles called photons. To study and learn more about how we can leverage this quantum nature of light, we are working to build a bright and reliable single photon source. The fact that we are now able to create, count, and manipulate photons one by one (out of trillions in a room at a turn of a switch!) is an amazing feat that, I sure hope, will unlock new understandings and even more technologies we have yet to discover," Hoang summarized.
The Quantum Science Slam, a highlight of this year's CLEO, aimed to make the audience think, laugh, and learn simultaneously. Hoang's ability to explain her complex quantum research in an accessible and humorous manner won over the crowd, who ultimately decided the winner through audience voting. Her victory earned her a $1,000 cash prize and the prestigious title of Science Slam Champion.
Thi Hoang's achievement is a testament to the importance of making science accessible and engaging. Her success at the Quantum Science Slam highlights the growing recognition of the need for scientists to communicate their work effectively to a broader audience.
Written by Steven Burrows, JILA Science Communications Manager
The Physics Frontiers Centers (PFC) program supports university-based centers and institutes where the collective efforts of a larger group of individuals can enable transformational advances in the most promising research areas. The program is designed to foster major breakthroughs at the intellectual frontiers of physics by providing needed resources such as combinations of talents, skills, disciplines, and/or specialized infrastructure, not usually available to individual investigators or small groups, in an environment in which the collective efforts of the larger group can be shown to be seminal to promoting significant progress in the science and the education of students. PFCs also include creative, substantive activities aimed at enhancing education, broadening participation of traditionally underrepresented groups, and outreach to the scientific community and general public.