Over the past 70 years, CERN’s accelerators and experiments have delivered some remarkable results and discoveries, owing to the efforts of generations of physicists. We asked seven of the new generation — all CERN Fellows, in the early stages of their career — to tell us about some of the milestone achievements in the history of their laboratory.

Rydberg atoms are sensitive to radio frequency electric fields, which make them useful as sensors. This Technical Review discusses Rydberg sensors that measure the amplitude and phase of electric fields at frequencies from d.c. to THz, as well as technological applications of these sensors.

The combination of single-molecule fluorescence detection with Förster resonance energy transfer provides a powerful probe of biomolecular dynamics on timescales ranging from nanoseconds to days. This Review outlines single-molecule Förster resonance energy transfer spectroscopy with a focus on dynamics and highlights future developments and enhanced capabilities.

The Rydberg atomic array is an emerging quantum many-body physics platform, exhibiting rich physical phenomena, such as quantum spin liquids and quantum scar states. This Perspective analyses the latest progress in this system through a unified theoretical framework — lattice gauge theory — providing new insights for quantum simulation.