News

“Physics is like playing the guitar – anyone can learn it, you just need to practice.”

Growing up on Canada’s east coast, THOMAS ALEXANDER was always interested in science.

From the top of a tower, the view is vast and wide; at a high level, the details may be blurry but there is a holistic picture of the landscape below. 

Experiment finds way to increase photon efficiency for quantum communications

A team of researchers at the Institute for Quantum Computing (IQC) demonstrated a new type of on-demand single photon generator that can shape photons to increase their efficiency when used in a quantum network.

Next-generation communication networks will rely on the transmission of quantum information. Single photons, as carriers of quantum information, will play an integral role in building these future networks.

Faculty member Norbert Lütkenhaus has been named a Fellow of the American Physical Society. He is recognized for his “pioneering theoretical contributions to the fields of quantum secure communications and optical quantum information processing.”

Nine Waterloo researchers will receive more than $17 million from the Canada Foundation for Innovation(CFI) for infrastructure to support their research.

The awards from CFI’s Innovation Fund were announced today by Kirsty Duncan, Minister of Science. Waterloo researchers chosen for funding through the Innovation Fund are:

The Institute for Quantum Computing is pleased to announce a call for entries to the Quantum Shorts flash fiction competition. The competition is open to stories up to 1000 words long that take inspiration from quantum physics and include the phrase “There are only two possibilities: yes or no”. The competition is free to enter, offering prizes of up to US $1500.

A light emitting diode (LED)-based spectrophotometer designed and implemented by Institute for Quantum Computing (IQC) researchers is the first demonstration of characterizing optical coatings using a simple, automated device.

Quantum machine learning and artificial intelligence, quantum-safe cryptography, and simulation of quantum systems all rely on the power of quantum computing.

A team of researchers at the Institute for Quantum Computing (IQC) have taken a step closer to realizing the powerful possibilities of a universal quantum computer. The Laboratory for Digital Quantum Matter, led by faculty member Matteo Mariantoni, is developing technologies for extensible quantum computing architectures based on superconducting quantum devices.