Thomas Jennewein, profesor from the
Institute for Quantum Computing, visits VQCC

VQCC is pleased to receive the visit of Thomas Jennewein, from the Institute of Quantum Computing (IQC) at the University of Waterloo (Canada), who has been able to see first-hand our center and discuss with our researchers about possible future collaborations on the field of free-space and satellite-based quantum communications.

Thomas earned his PhD under the supervision of Prof. Anton Zeilinger, (Nobel Prize in Physics 2022) at the University of Vienna in 2002, focused on the realisation of Bell’s inequality experiments and quantum cryptography with entangled photons. Currently, he is the leader of the Quantum Photonics Laboratory at IQC, which focuses on quantum communication and quantum computation using entangled photons, as well as on long distance quantum communication via optical fibers, free space, and satellite based links, and on the foundations of physics and quantum information, with special emphasis on entanglement in large and complex systems.

Thomas is also the scientific lead of the Canadian Quantum Encryption and Science Satellite (QEYSSat) mission, in partnership with the Canadian Space Agency. QEYSSat is a low-earth orbit (LEO) satellite with a Quantum Receiver & Transmitter, capable of exchanging quantum-encoded photons with a quantum ground station via line-of-sight freespace link, and is expected to be launched in 2025. It will be a technology demonstration platform to study quantum links and quantum key distribution for ground-to-space communication with quantum ground stations across Canada and internationally.

Besides IQC, he is also an affiliate of the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, a fellow of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, and CEO and co-founder of quantum optics measurement device company UQDevices alongside with the physicist Raymond Laflamme.