CERN Accelerating science

Quantum Unplugged: Geneva's diplomatic community engages in dialogue on quantum technology with OQI and ITU

Quantum Unplugged: Geneva's diplomatic community engages in dialogue on quantum technology with OQI and ITU (Photos by OQI/ITU)

On 14th October, representatives from 40 Permanent Missions in Geneva attended the second edition of Quantum Unplugged, in collaboration with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF), and with the support of the Permanent Mission of Belgium to the United Nations in Geneva (Wallonie-Bruxelles à Genève).



Ideas, collaboration, and lots of coding at the 2nd Next Generation Triggers hackathon

Participants of the 2nd NGT Hackathon at the Globe. Picture: Alex Lasa Lamarca

From 20 to 24 October 2025, more than 40 participants from NGT CMSATLAS, and other NGT work packages gathered at IdeaSquare for the second edition of the 



Hacking quantum materials for sustainable development

From 11-13 July, 35 students from over 20 countries came together at CERN IdeaSquare to take part in a hackathon co-organised by OQI and the University of Geneva (Geneva Responsible Entrepreneurship Center).
Quantum Materials Hackathon From 11-13 July, 35 students from over 20 countries came together at CERN IdeaSquare to take part in a hackathon co-organised by OQI and the University of Geneva (Geneva Responsible Entrepreneurship Center).

Prototype profile: Barrel Timing Layer

Barrel Timing Layer

The BTL (Barrel Timing Layer) project is an additional layer that will be added to CMS for the high luminosity phase of the LHC. BTL is half of the MTD project (Minimum Ionizing Particle Timing Detector) which will allow for higher-resolution event reconstruction.

Currently, the following prototypes have been manufactured at ldeaSquare:

 



Prototype profile: FASERCal detector

FASERCal detector

A proposed detector to be placed next to the FASER experiment in the LHC. The main component of FASERCal is the "3DCal" that will allow 3D track reconstruction of particles. Current prototypes are being developed at ETH for these 3DCal modules.

  • Optically isolated 1 cm3 cubes, readout fibres
  • arranged in three planes to collect light from multiple cubes
  • 3D voxel reconstruction

 



1st Next Generation Triggers Hackathon: a week of innovation and collaboration

1st Next Generation Triggers Hackathon: a week of innovation and collaboration

The 1st NGT Hackathon, held at CERN IdeaSquare from 7–11 April 2025, brought together more than 40 students and researchers from across the Next Generation Triggers (NGT) collaboration and 15 other institutes.



Create your own ATLAS experiment with 3D printing

Recreate the iconic ATLAS experiment using 3D printing!
ATLAS experiment 3D printed model Recreate the iconic ATLAS experiment using 3D printing!

Transient—Cloud Chamber, a detector installation turning cosmic muons into trails of light and sound

Transient—Cloud Chamber is a project that offers a mesmerising interaction with cosmic particles, turning cosmic muons into real-time trails of light and sound, revealing the ephemeral beauty of the cosmos.
Transient—Cloud Chamber, a detector installation turning cosmic muons into trails of light and sound Transient—Cloud Chamber is a project that offers a mesmerising interaction with cosmic particles, turning cosmic muons into real-time trails of light and sound, revealing the ephemeral beauty of the cosmos.

Scouting the flow of data for the future High Luminosity LHC

How to manage large amounts of data without losing any interesting ones? The selection of data concerning particle collisions in the LHC is critical since it will determine all the resulting analyses. This is the decisive work of a novel scouting system located at the beginning of the data chain.
From top to bottom: ATLAS, CERN Data Centre and CMS How to manage large amounts of data without losing any interesting ones? The selection of data concerning particle collisions in the LHC is critical since it will determine all the resulting analyses. This is the decisive work of a novel scouting system located at the beginning of the data chain.

A hackathon to reconstruct the trajectories of particles in the CMS experiment

The 15th Patatrack Hackathon took place at IdeaSquare to focus on reconstruction algorithms for the CMS experiment.
Cutaway diagrams of CMS detector The 15th Patatrack Hackathon took place at IdeaSquare to focus on reconstruction algorithms for the CMS experiment.

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