Among its most prestigious prizes, the Quantum Electronics and Optics division (QEOD) of the European Physical Society (EPS) distributes the Quantum Electronics and Optics Prizes. These are the two senior EPS/QEOD prizes (one for fundamental, one for applied aspects) awarded for outstanding contributions to quantum electronics and optics. The prizes winners are each to receive a medal and 5000 euros.
Awarded every two years, these prizes recognize the highest level of achievements in fundamental and applied research in optical physics. The awards are presented in a special Plenary Ceremony generally held on Tuesday morning, during the Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics Europe (CLEO®/Europe) and the EuropeanQuantum Electronics Conference (EQEC), held in Munich, Germany taking place in uneven years.

Miles Padgett is a Royal Society Research Professor and also holds the Kelvin Chair of Natural Philosophy at the University of Glasgow in the UK. His research team, covers all things optical from the basic ways in which light behaves as it pushes and twists the world around us, to the application of new optical techniques in imaging and sensing. They are currently using the classical and quantum properties of light to explore: the laws of quantum physics in accelerating frames, microscopes that see through noise, shaped light that overcomes diffraction-limited resolution and endoscopes the width of a human hair.

The 2021 EPS-QEOD Quantum Electronics Prize for fundamental aspects is awarded to Prof. Miles Padgett, University of Glasgow, United Kingdom, for pioneering and wide ranging research on the fundamentals and applications of optical angular momentum.
2019 EPS Quantum Electronics Prizes
Applied aspects

The 2019 Prize for applied aspects of quantum electronics and optics is awarded to Govind P. Agrawal (University of Rochester, USA), for pioneering and groundbreaking research that underpins a wide range of current photonic technologies in the fields of semiconductor lasers, nonlinear fiber optics and optical communication systems.
Fundamental aspects

The 2019 Prize for fundamental aspects of quantum electronics and optics is awarded to Anne L'Huillier (Lund University, Sweden), in recognition of her pioneering experimental and theoretical contributions to attosecond pulse trains using high harmonics, which form the basis of today's successful field of attosecond science.

