Blog

IOP’s ten outstanding quantum articles published in the New Journal of Physics, featuring Rob and Hugo!

Tue, 18 Feb 2025 12:45:00 +0000

“The SECOQC quantum key distribution network in Vienna”, co-authored by our group leaders Rob Thew and Hugo Zbinden, and "The quantum technologies roadmap: a European community view", co-authored by Rob Thew, have both been voted in IOP’s ten outstanding quantum articles published in the New Journal of Physics (NJP) since its inception! Congratulations Rob and Hugo!

Welcome Javier Núñez!

Tue, 01 Oct 2024 09:13:00 +0000

Javier has joined the Quantum Technologies team for a PhD, in partnership with ID Quantique. He received his Masters in Telecom Engineering from the AV��Ƶ of Vigo, where he worked with Marcos Curty on quantum key distribution.

Welcome Shashank Kumar!

Thu, 08 Aug 2024 07:13:00 +0000

Shashank has joined the Quantum Technologies team for a PhD working on Quantum Key Distribution. He received his Masters in Optical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology, and has previously worked at the Indian Space Research Organization.

Toward Heralded Distribution of Polarization Entanglement

Wed, 19 Jun 2024 07:25:00 +0000

Our new results from heralded distribution of entanglement are out now in Optica Quantum! In this work we experimentally demonstrated a scheme for distributing polarization-entangled photons for future quantum networks. To do this, we started with four independent single photons and created two entangled pairs from these. We then measured one photon from each pair in such a way that we entangle the two remaining photons (thus "swapping" the entanglement between the original pairs).

Welcome Loïc Millet!

Tue, 13 Feb 2024 08:49:00 +0000

Loïc has joined the Quantum Technologies team for a PhD, in partnership with ID Quantique. He received his Masters in Applied Physics from INSA Toulouse, and in Materials Science and Engineering from Seoul National AV��Ƶ.

Welcome Mingsong Wu!

Wed, 11 Oct 2023 10:01:00 +0000

Mingsong has joined the Quantum Technologies team for a PhD. He received his Masters from Imperial College, where he worked with Michael Vanner on silica microresonators as quantum resources.

Hugo Zbinden Retires after 30 years at the Department of Applied Physics

Mon, 18 Sep 2023 13:34:00 +0000

Hugo Zbinden, quantum technology pioneer and one of our Group Leaders, has retired after 30 years at the Department of Applied Physics. We wish Hugo all the best for his retirement and new adventures!

Rebecka Sax Receives her PhD!

Mon, 04 Sep 2023 11:27:00 +0000

Rebecka Sax has received her PhD for work related to Quantum Key Distribution Systems. Thesis Title: Fast and Practical Integrated Quantum Communication Systems

Gigahertz Detection Rates and Dynamic Photon-Number Resolution with Superconducting Nanowire Arrays

Mon, 26 Jun 2023 14:08:00 +0000

A new paper on our state-of-the-art 14-pixel single photon detector with photon number resolution is now out in Nano Letters! Our novel design uses 14 independent pixels in an interleaved geometry, allowing the device to deliver high performance single-photon detection, whilst also being able to resolve the number of photons incident on the detector. These types of devices could find immediate application in linear optic quantum computing.

Patrik Caspar Receives his PhD!

Fri, 16 Jun 2023 07:02:00 +0000

Patrik Caspar has received his PhD for work related to Heralded Single Photon Sources. Thesis Title: Photonic Entanglement Certification and Distribution Based on Single Photons

A Fast High-Efficiency Photon-Number-Resolving Parallel Superconducting Nanowire Single-Photon Detector For Improving Heralded Single-Photon Sources

Wed, 14 Jun 2023 09:32:00 +0000

Two recent articles from our group demonstrate a novel photon-number-resolving (PNR) detector, based on a high-efficiency parallel SNSPD (P-SNSPD), and its application in quantum optics experiments! The results are out now in Physical Review Applied and Quantum Science and Technology. The novel architecture P-SNSPD design prevents electrical and thermal crosstalk. The development of the P-SNSPD allowed a significant improvement to be made to one of our existing heralded single photon sources.

High-Speed Integrated QKD System

Tue, 30 May 2023 08:04:00 +0000

Brand new results from our QKD work is out now in Photonics Research! Our researchers have developed a novel integrated Quantum Key Distribution system which transmits secret keys at extremely high speeds. These experiments are a crucial step towards implementing such ultra-secure communication in real-world scenarios, bringing us closer to a quantum-based future.

Rob Thew & Hugo Zbinden Awarded Quantum Transitional Measures Grant

Thu, 25 May 2023 09:01:00 +0000

Rob Thew and Hugo Zbinden have been awarded the Quantum Transitional Measures Grant from the SNF! This four-year funding is intended to allow the group to continue its cutting-edge research into quantum communication and quantum technologies.

Integrated photon-pair source with monolithic piezoelectric frequency tunability

Wed, 03 May 2023 14:21:00 +0000

A new publication from our work with integrated micro-ring resonators is now out in Physical Review A! This work demonstrates a novel, fast, frequency-tunable narrow bandwidth photon-pair source. This is an important step towards interfacing our integrated technologies with quantum memories based on atomic systems, for realisation of quantum networks.

Fast single-photon detectors and real-time key distillation enable high secret-key-rate quantum key distribution systems

Mon, 13 Mar 2023 12:31:00 +0000

How can we ensure our data is secure when carrying out day-to-day transactions? Quantum physics has the answer! By using photons, a secret key can be securely transmitted between two users, so allowing them to privately communicate. But up to now, the efficiency with which the photons were detected has restricted more widespread use of this technology. Our team has broken the record for secret key rate transmission by a factor of 6! The results are out now in Nature Photonics.

Fine-Tuning of Entangled Two-Photon Absorption by Controlling the One-Photon Absorption Properties of the Chromophore

Fri, 10 Mar 2023 08:50:00 +0000

More great news from our ETPA research! A new paper by the group gives a theoretical analysis of ETPA to better understand how its cross-section in chromophores (the part of a molecule responsible for its colour) varies, depending on the coherence time of the incident entangled photon-pair and the excited states of the chromophore. The team found a periodic dependence on the coherence time, with the predictions confirmed by molecular quantum mechanical calculations for several chromophores.

Shallow- and Deep-Water Ophiura Species Produce a Panel of Chlorin Compounds with Potent Photodynamic Anticancer Activities

Wed, 15 Feb 2023 15:39:00 +0000

A new paper from our quantum sensing efforts is out! We studied five chemical compounds (chlorins) from Pacific brittle stars, which can be used in anticancer therapies where light is exploited to destroy cancer cells. By measuring the phosphorescence of singlet oxygen produced by the chlorins, we discovered they made a large quantum yield when illuminated. These studies identify an arsenal of brittle star chlorins with great potential for application in photodynamic anticancer therapies.

Fadri Grünenfelder Receives his PhD!

Thu, 13 Oct 2022 10:08:00 +0000

Fadri Grünenfelder has received his PhD for work related to Quantum Key Distribution Thesis Title: Performance, Security and Network Integration of Simplified BB84 Quantum Key Distribution

Ancienne Ecole de Médecine Open Day Success

Mon, 03 Oct 2022 11:29:00 +0000

The public open day for the Ancienne Ecole de Médecine saw enormous interest in the activities of the university of Geneva and our activities. Thousands turned out to visit the new and the old building and enjoy the demonstrations and explanations of our research in quantum science.

Official Inauguration for the Ancienne Ecole de Médecine

Mon, 03 Oct 2022 10:57:00 +0000

The official inauguration of the Ancienne Ecole de Médecine, took place on the 27th of September marking the return of the Department of Applied Physics to this landmark building in Geneva.