Girls'Day gives girls insight into professions in which women have previously been underrepresented. Employees have therefore designed a varied program to introduce young guests to natural sciences and to get them excited about MPL’s exciting subject areas.

Olga Ohletz, head of the TDSU Micro- and Nanostructuring unit, took the girls on a personal journey from her own school days to becoming a scientist in a leadership position. Then moving to practice: using a laser table, a prism table or a polarization filter, the girls conducted experiments themselves, together with members of the student chapter and so got a playful access to scientific work with light.

In the visitor corridor to the clean room, they then learned about the complex process steps for producing photonic crystal fibers and let the fine glass fibers slide through their hands, which researchers use to conduct cutting-edge research in the laboratories. Wearing cleanroom clothing and heat protection suits, the students took on the role of scientists themselves. The girls also mastered experiments on practical designs in the institute's mechanical and electronics workshops, which provide all departments and research groups with services and equipment.

At the end of their visit, two scientific laboratories opened their doors to the girls. In Francesco Tani and Nicolas Joly's optics laboratory, guests marveled at a setup that ranges from ultrashort pulse lasers to photonic crystal fibers to terahertz radiation. In Daniel Wehner's laboratory, the visitors observed and examined zebrafish larvae and their tiny live food under the microscope.

The Girls' Day campaign is funded by the Federal Ministry for Family, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth (BMFSFJ) and the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). With more than 23,000 offers nationwide and a total of more than 175,000 places for schoolchildren, Girls'Day and the Boys'Day, which took place at the same time, set a record this year. More than 2.38 million places were available for girls as part of Girls'Day since 2001.