News

Electrical and computer engineering PhD student, Trevor Blaikie, has been selected as the winner of the NAMBE 2024 Best Journal Paper Award. Trevor’s research, supervised by Dr. Zbig Wasilewski, earned top recognition for the paper titled “Optimizing GaAs/AlGaAs growth on GaAs (111)B for enhanced nonlinear efficiency in quantum optical metasurfaces.”

This exceptional work was chosen by the NAMBE Advisory Board from the papers presented at the 38th North American Conference on Molecular Beam Epitaxy (NAMBE 2024) and published in the Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology A (JVST A). JVST A focuses on advancing the understanding of interfaces and surfaces at a fundamental level, while promoting state-of-the-art technological applications in surface science and thin film materials science.

The University of Waterloo’s Transformative Quantum Technologies (TQT) program continues to advance cutting-edge quantum research through its Quantum Quest Seed Fund (QQSF), which recently awarded funding to eight new research projects across the university.

Among the funded initiatives is a project led by Dr. Zbig Wasilewski, Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and a member of the Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology, in collaboration with Dr. Michael Reimer. Titled Metasurfaces for high-efficiency parametric downconversion and complex quantum state generation, the project aims to advance quantum computing, quantum sensing, and quantum communication through the development of new quantum optical metasurfaces.

Dr. Zbigniew (Zbig) Wasilewski, a professor and Director of the QNC-MBE Facility in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE), has been elevated to Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). This prestigious distinction recognizes his outstanding contributions to molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) growth technology and photonic devices.

The grade of IEEE Fellow is reserved for a select group of IEEE members whose extraordinary accomplishments have made a lasting impact across IEEE fields of interest.

Congratulations, Bohdan!

Congratulations, Dr. Shi!

Chris Deimert, a PhD Candidate in ECE in the QNC-MBE Group, has just successfully defended his doctoral thesis with Category 1! Because of his great research and outstanding thesis, Chris was also nominated for the Distinguished PhD Dissertation Award. The title of Chris's thesis is Growth of graded quantum wells for THz polaritonics.

Congratulations, Dr. Deimert!

Ida Sadeghi, a PhD Candidate in ECE in the QNC-MBE Group, has just successfully defended her doctoral thesis with Category 1! The title of Ida's thesis is Realization of atomically smooth defect free InGaAs/InAlAs superlattice on InP(111) substrate by molecular beam epitaxy.

Congratulations, Dr. Sadeghi!

The Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE) Research Group has achieved a world‑record milestone in terahertz laser technology, demonstrating a compact and portable terahertz quantum cascade laser (THz QCL) capable of operating at unprecedented high temperatures — a development that could transform how terahertz radiation is used outside the lab.

The breakthrough was accomplished in collaboration with Professor Qing Hu’s research group at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

"Many authorities in the field didn't believe these devices could work outside a laboratory environment or anywhere close to room temperature,” said Zbig Wasilewski, a physicist and professor of electrical and computer engineering at Waterloo and a principal investigator at Transformative Quantum Technologies. “Our combined expertise just changed this paradigm.”

Bohdan Khromets and Trevor Blaikie, MSc students in the QNC-MBE Group, have been awarded WIN Nanofellowships in the 2020-2021 competition. The criteria considered for the awardees included their academic performance, publications and presentations, quality and relevance of the proposal to nanotechnology and etc. This fellowship is valued at $10 000.

Congratulations, Bohdan and Trevor!

Congratulations, Ahmed!