You could see active and fruitful discussions happening in every corner of the conference centre. There was also a large industrial exhibition area, where you could get a glimpse of the latest innovations and technologies that gave a different and refreshing perspective.
I’m grateful that I got the chance to give an oral presentation on “A Real-Time State Discriminator for Identifying Laser Cavity Solitons in a Microresonator-Filtered Fibre Laser” and present a poster on “Hysteresis in Laser Cavity Solitons.” It was a great experience to talk to people about our research, get into interesting discussions, and hear new ideas. It was also really motivating to see the wide range of work being done in our field. One of the highlights for me was attending the plenary talks by Anne L’Huillier and Ferenc Krausz, the 2023 Nobel Prize winners in Physics. Listening to them reflect on their scientific journey was truly inspiring.
I was also honoured to receive the EPS-QEOD Travel Grant Student Award, which is given to selected young minds students in recognition of their contributions to the conference. Many thanks to the European Physical Society’s Quantum Electronics and Optics Division, EPS Young Minds, and the CLEO/Europe organisers for this opportunity. I’m also very thankful to everyone at the Emergent Photonics Research Centre for making this happen and for their ongoing support.