Thomas Jennewein

Associate Professor

Dr. Jennewein's main research passion is how to achieve quantum communications and a Quantum Internet on a global scale. In particular he is currently pursuing the use of satellites to accomplish intercontinental distances, and is possible with today’s technology.

His field of research combines information processing technologies with the laws of quantum physics and is at the forefront of research today, giving rise to powerful new information tools such as quantum computing and quantum cryptography.

Contact information
Office: RAC 2111
Phone: 519 888-4567 ext. 37485
Email: tjennewe@iqc.ca
Website: http://research.iqc.uwaterloo.ca/qpl/

Expertise

Quantum communication and quantum computation experiments using entangled photons
Quantum teleportation
Orbital angular momentum of photons
Long distance quantum communication via optical fibers, free space, and satellite based links
Foundations of physics and quantum information, entanglement in large and complex systems

Research

Dr. Jennewein is actively driving a very strong program with the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), supported by a team of academic and industrial partners, of which he is the principal investigator. The mission proposal he has established is called QEYSSat (Quantum Encryption and Science Satellite). Several projects and studies were funded by the CSA since 2010. One of the ongoing studies includes the development of the satellite payload systems. Jennewein's team, together with 5 industry partners designed the systems, built prototypes and tested them in our UW labs. Most notably, they undertook a test campaign at TRIUMF in Vancouver to expose our photon detector devices to Proton radiation equivalent to the space environment, which yielded very promising results.

Furthermore, Dr. Jennewein was recently awarded a FAST grant from CSA to study quantum communication experiments with airborne platforms, with their support for a stratospheric balloon or an aircraft and will help them advance the readiness of the satellite payload.

The research in the Quantum Photonics Laboratory centers on the applications of quantum photonics and quantum optics, as well as the fundamental aspects of the quantum world. They are involved in the experimental design and demonstrations of quantum photonics devices suitable for communication and computing with photons, and the development of ultra-long distance quantum communication systems using terrestrial and satellite-based systems. They are developing photonic quantum entanglement sources for various quantum protocols, and have pioneered the direct generation of three photon entangled states from cascaded parametric down conversion.

Teaching

PHYS115, Mechanics

Highlighted Publications

Bourjoin, J.-P., Meyer-Scott, E., Higgins, B.L., Helou, B., Erven, C., Hübel, H., Kumar, B., Hudson, D., D'Souza, I., Girard, R., Laflamme, R., Jennewein, T. A comprehensive design and performance analysis of low Earth orbit satellite quantum communication. New Journal of Physics (2013) 15, pp. 023006(1)-023006(35).

Erven, C., Meyer-Scott, E., Fisher, K., Lavoie, J., Higgins, B.L., Yan, Z., Pugh, C.J., Bourgoin, J.-P., Prevedel, R., Shalm, L.K., Richards, L., Gigov, N., Laflamme, R., Weihs, G., Jennewein, T., Resch, K.J. Experimental three-photon quantum nonlocality under strict locality conditions. Nature Photonics (2014) 8, pp. 292-296.

Hübel, H., Hamel, D.R., Fedrizzi, A., Ramelow, S., Resch, K.J., Jennewein, T. Direct generation of photon triplets using cascaded photon-pair sources. Nature Physics Letters (2010) 466, pp. 601-603.

Shalm, L.K., Hamel, D.R., Yan, Z., Simon, C., Resch, K.J., Jennewein, T. Three-photon energy-time entanglement. Nature Physics Letters (2013) 9, pp. 19-22.

Please see Google Scholar for a complete list of Professor Jennewein's publications.

Awards and Distinctions

2007, International ARC Research Fellowship, Australian Research Council
2002, Loschmidt prize of the Austrian Physical-Chemical Society for the PhD Thesis