Outreach
Scientific outreach and communication have been close to my heart for a long time.
I’ve been passionate about physics, astronomy, and mathematics since the age of ten, when I first began taking part in student competitions. These experiences shaped both my skills and my worldview. They taught me how to tackle challenging physics problems, and more importantly, they introduced me to a community of like-minded peers at summer and winter camps that I still fondly remember.
Later, as a university student, I felt a strong drive to give back. I joined the organising teams behind these competitions to help inspire the next generation. My main involvement was with Trojsten, a Slovak nonprofit where I contributed to the physics competitions UFO and FKS, and served on the national committee for the Slovak Physics Olympiad. Since I studied in the Czech Republic, much of my focus shifted to the Czech competition Výfuk, where I served as chief organiser from 2012 to 2017. I also coordinated the Czech branch of Náboj Junior, an international team-based competition for younger students. Both competitions recently celebrated their 10th anniversaries!
Photon Bricks
Michelson interferometer made of LEGO
When two laser beams meet, they create a striking pattern of light and dark stripes known as an interference pattern. Even the tiniest change in the path of either beam, far too small for the human eye to detect, can cause the pattern to shift. This is the principle behind interferometry, a powerful technique that has transformed science and technology. It is used today to detect gravitational waves, explore quantum physics, develop advanced materials, and support technologies such as quantum computing and precision navigation.
Starting from the My Photonics project, I developed a fully functioning interferometer built from LEGO bricks and a few optical components, held in custom mounts that allow for fine adjustments, such as precisely rotating or tilting mirrors to guide the laser beams through the experiment.
The resulting interference pattern can pick up tiny vibrations or ambient noise, making this perhaps the most precise and sensitive LEGO setup ever built!
This LEGO interferometer has been showcased at events across the UK, including in the UK Parliament and at the Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition. A photograph of the setup by Leonardo Solidoro was even selected among Nature’s best science images in February 2025.
Cosmic Titans
Art, Science and the Quantum Universe
Cosmic Titans is an art-science exhibition celebrating 2025 as the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology. The exhibition first ran from January to April 2025 at the Djanogly Art Gallery in Nottingham, and will soon begin touring across the UK and worldwide.
All artists commissioned for the exhibition visited our research group at the University of Nottingham, where they explored our work on quantum liquids, black hole physics, and the early Universe. As a scientist, I had the rare opportunity to collaborate closely with these artists through conversations, advising, experimental demonstrations but even as a co-creator of some of the works.
During a visit to the studio of one of the exhibiting artists, Conrad Shawcross, we developed the idea of probing his Ringdown – an immersive sculptural piece illustrating the merger of two black holes – with miniature magnetic field sensors identical to those I use in the lab to calibrate my experiments. During the gallery installation, my colleagues and I attached five such sensors to the sculpture. Their live output was displayed on a screen next to the exhibit – visually expressing, in a unique and dynamic way, the strong connection between art and science that defines the entire exhibition.
Quantum LEGO
Public demonstration of the Schrödinger’s cat principle
As part of Cosmic Titans’ supporting programme, I delivered a series of live interferometry demonstrations for the general public. I began with my LEGO interferometer to illustrate how two laser beams can interfere with one another. Then, I guided the audience to another setup displayed in the gallery – a single-photon interferometer I constructed in a laser-safe transparent enclosure.
This experiment allowed visitors to witness interference even when photons passed through the interferometer one at a time. Much like the Schrödinger’s cat thought experiment, each photon travelled through both arms of the interferometer simultaneously, effectively interfering with itself!
