Two IQC researchers granted Early Researcher Awards

The province of Ontario announced that Kyung Choi and Vadim Makarov of the Institute for Quantum Computing (IQC) were two of the award winners.

Local MPPs Daiene Vernille and Kathryn McGarry presented announced the awards to University of Waterloo recipients this morning at Waterloo and Lin Tan, assistant professor in the Department of Electrical and Computing Engineering, made some remarks on behalf of the university.

From quantum computation to ensuring that quantum communications are secure against hacking attacks, researchers at IQC are driving research forward to create technologies to fuel the Quantum Revolution for Ontario.

Kyung Choi, an assistant professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Waterloo is harnessing the interactions of ultracold atoms and single photons to build the foundation for scalable quantum computation and simulation. In the long-term these advancements will lead to the development of quantum processors, networks and simulators.

Building quantum networks will require secure quantum communication. Research Assistant Professor Vadim Makarov is working to ensure that quantum communications are secure against hacking attacks. Makarov and his team are developing hack-proof engineering approaches for various

quantum cryptosystems, working with industry partners to implement better security in their systems. It’s expected that security certification will be an outcome and a commercializable technology.

Previous winners of the Early Research Award at IQC include: Jonathan Baugh, Andrew Childs, Joseph Emerson, Thomas Jennewein, Adrian Lupascu, Matteo Mariantoni, Michele Mosca, Ashwin Nayak and Kevin Resch.