Photons in Space: the Next Frontier! These are the voyages of Canada's first Quantum Satellite Mission - the Quantum EncrYption and Science Satellite (QEYSSat). Its upcoming mission: To explore strange new physics, and enable secure communication across Canada and around the world. To seek out new discoveries and new ways to communicate... To boldly send photons where none have gone before!
The Canadian Space Agency is preparing to launch Canada’s first Quantum Science Satellite, QEYSSat, which will circle the Earth in low-earth orbit (500km above the ground), and measure individual packets of light (photons) sent from telescopes on the ground up to the satellite. QEYSSat will demonstrate secure communication across Canada using quantum laser links, and help us explore foundational concepts in physics that cannot be tested on Earth. But how do we catch a photon in the stars? I will discuss challenges we face when bridging the gap between Quantum and Space, and review the current Quantum Space Race, including work being done in Waterloo on QEYSSat.
About
the
speaker
Katanya
Kuntz,
PhD,
is
a
Research
Associate
at
the
Institute
for
Quantum
Computing,
University
of
Waterloo.
She
is
the
QEYSSat
Science
Team
Coordinator
for
Canada’s
first
quantum
satellite
mission.
She
received
her
PhD
in
Electrical
Engineering
(Quantum
Optics)
from
the
University
of
New
South
Wales,
Australia
(2013),
and
BSc
in
Physics
from
the
University
of
Calgary
(2008).
She
works
in
the
field
of
experimental
quantum
optics,
such
as
generating
quantum
states
of
light
using
lasers
and
non-linear
crystals
to
study
quantum
entanglement.
She
is
active
in
promoting
STEAM
education
via
outreach
in
schools,
the
community,
and
volunteer
work.