Students with interdisciplinary backgrounds harness the second quantum revolution
Graduates and program leaders of IQC's Master of Science degree in Physics with a specialization in Quantum Technology explain the purpose and benefits of the program.
By Naomi Grosman
The International Year of Quantum Science and Technology (IYQ) is just around the corner as 2025 marks 100 years of the initial development of quantum mechanics, and students continue to be drawn to a unique graduate program offered by the Institute for Quantum Computing (IQC) in partnership with the Department of Physics and Astronomy and the Transformative Quantum Technologies (TQT) research initiative at the University of Waterloo.
The Master of Science degree in Physics with a specialization in Quantum Technology is a 12-month program, the only course-based option for an MSc in Physics at the University of Waterloo, whose graduates gain skills to secure positions in academia and industry.
“The first quantum science revolution was the discovery of quantum mechanics and we are now in the second revolution where we are harnessing it, creating useful technologies,” says Jonathan Baugh, IQC faculty and professor of Chemistry in the Faculty of Science at the University of Waterloo.
Student working on a dilution cryostat that is used to cool superconducting qubits to their operating temperature (~15 milliKelvin).
Students working with liquid helium flow cryostats. One cryostat (front) contains a superconducting microwave resonator (readout on a vector network analyzer) and the other (rear) contains Josephson junctions. These two devices are integral to the construction of superconducting qubit architectures.
A nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer along with a set of liquid samples used for quantum control of 1 and 2 qubits.
A shot of a single photon counting module. Single photons are detected, and their time of arrival is precisely recorded. The software counts the number of photon arrivals and checks for correlations in the time of those arrivals.
Students characterizing a single spin qubit using a nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer.
The program’s main activities take place at the Research Advancement Centre (RAC) just north of Waterloo’s main campus where there is dedicated lab space. Students also have access to events and seminars at IQC’s Quantum-Nano Centre (QNC) and join the broader IQC community of over 300 quantum researchers across seven Waterloo academic units in the Mathematics, Science and Engineering faculties.
“It’s a great opportunity to network and meet new people you can engage with in future work. Students join a large and active community that is a great environment for learning current developments in the field through seminars and conversations with experts, and meeting other students to grow a research network.”
- Jonathan Baugh, IQC faculty and professor of Chemistry at the University of Waterloo.
A student characterizing a cryogenic microwave circuit component using a Vector Network Analyzer (VNA)
Students running a dynamical decoupling sequence to extend the lifetime of a spin qubit using a nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer.
A quantum light source producing maximally entangled quantum states in photon polarization. This source is used for exploring entanglement and Bell nonlocality with two-qubits.
A liquid helium flow cryostat used to characterize superconducting quantum devices down to 1.5 Kelvin.
Students looking at a dilution cryostat that is used to cool superconducting qubits to ultra-low temperatures (~15 milliKelvin)
A student working on a quantum state/process tomography experiment. Tomography is a technique used to characterize an unknown quantum state, or the action of an unknown quantum process.
Student working on equations in the photonics lab
Michael Grabowecky is quantum technology lab lead at the Research Advancement Centre. He says as the quantum industry grows, the quantum workforce demand increases, and graduates from this program gain the necessary expertise.
“The program’s goal is to give students hands on experience in quantum technology that’s relevant to active research. The breadth of knowledge gained can be used as a tool belt to solve real-world quantum problems, both for industry and to advance to a PhD.”
- Michael Grabowecky, quantum technology lab lead at the Research Advancement Centre.
He says the program is geared towards people with a diverse educational background.
"We want to see students engaged and bring their independent expertise to the content and have robust and enabling devices where students can create their own experiments and explore their curiosity and interests further," Grabowecky says.