QSTAR is a joint research center bringing together the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics (MPQ), the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT), the European Laboratory for Nonlinear Spectroscopy (LENS), the University of Florence and the National Institute of Optics - National Research Council (INO-CNR).

QSTAR offers a highly interdisciplinary scientific environment focused on quantum science and technology and in particular on the research opportunities in low-energy quantum science that are being created by emerging new technologies in atomic, molecular and optical (AMO) physics, precision metrology, and nano-scale science.

QSTAR aims at contributing to the growing sinergy between AMO physics, condensed matter science, and nanoscale technologies. Goals and opportunities in this interdisciplinary field range from tests of fundamental physics laws and the better understanding of the counterintuitive behavior of quantum mechanical many-body sytems to the engineering of novel quantum devices from the atomic scale to the mesoscopic scale.