The 12th International Conference on Coherent Multidimensional Spectroscopy (CMDS2026)

The 12th International Conference on Coherent Multidimensional Spectroscopy (CMDS2026) was held in the School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences and School of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology from 22 to 26 June 2026.

Coherent Multidimensional Spectroscopy is an advanced type of ultrafast nonlinear optical spectroscopic technique, capable of studying the femtosecond dynamics of complex chemical, biological, physical and material systems with multiple levels and states.

The CMDS is a biennial international conference international conference and is the premier international forum to discuss the latest results in multidimensional optical spectroscopy. We had presentations that included the theoretical and experimental developments of multidimensional optical spectroscopy and related nonlinear optical techniques. There were also presentations on the application of multidimensional optical spectroscopy. The presentations covered a wide range of applications and include for example: characterising the structure of amyloid fibrils (misfolded proteins responsible for Alzheimer’s disease); dynamics of hybrid light-matter states (known as polaritons) arising from strong light-matter coupling; energy transfer dynamics in photosynthetic light harvesting complexes; fundamental studies of vibronic couplings in molecular systems; and dynamics in perovskites.

The conference was held over five days in June 2026 and included a one-day session dedicated to early career scientists (including research fellows and PhD students). CMDS2026 had 12 Early Career Scientist talks, 11 invited talks, 39 contributed talks, and 75 poster presentations. In total, there were 131 participants from institutions across 20 countries.

IAS was also the proud sponsor of the CMDS2026 IAS Frontiers Conference Series poster awards. The winners of the awards were:

1. Nelson Kim Soon Ong, Nanyang Technological University. "Revealing Anti-Correlated Vibrational Coherences in Zinc Phthalocyanine via Polarisation-Resolved Two-Dimensional Electronic Spectroscopy"
2. Dasol Im, University of Wisconsin-Madison. "Spatially Resolving Energy Transfer in Carbon Nanotube Films with Ultrafast 2D Confocal Microscopy"
3. Lara Denninger, Goethe University Frankfurt. "Same Same but Different: Vibronic Coupling to Selectively Target Subpopulations"
4. Hyunmin Jang, Korea University. "Asynchronous and Interferometric Nonlinear Spectroscopy of Indium Arsenide Nanoparticle"

CMDS2026 also allowed the participants to renew friendships, forge new collaborations among researchers, and to welcome young and aspiring scientists venturing into the multidimensional optical spectroscopy arena. It also allowed participants to sample bits of Singapore’s diverse multicultural society, and lush green environment. The conference dinner was held at Permata restaurant in Kampong Glam, to sample the exciting cuisine of Nusantara (a term that includes maritime Southeast Asia, including Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia). We finally ended the CMDS2026 conference with a short hike up Bukit Timah Hill, Singapore’s highest geographical point.