People

Principal Investigator

Dr. Michael Reimer
Associate Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering
University of Waterloo
Email: michael.reimer[at]uwaterloo.ca

Research Finance Coordinator
Sarah Wang
Email: sarah.wang[at]uwaterloo.ca

Research Faculty

Prof. François Sfigakis
Francois obtained his PhD at the University of Cambridge, investigating single electron pumps, Kondo physics, and the 0.7 structure in GaAs 2DEGs. Prior to joining IQC, he was a Senior Research Associate at the University of Cambridge, where his work included the non-Abelian fractional quantum Hall effect, quantum-dot-based qubits, spin FETs, and electron-hole interactions in coupled bilayers. In 2018, Francois became a Research Assistant Professor in Jonathan Baugh’s group at IQC, to work on developing Si CMOS qubits, topological qubits in two-dimensional electron gases, single photon sources (all-electric, on-demand, and high-rate), and III-V infrared photo-detectors. In 2024, he joined the QPD group to work on quantum optoelectronics (on-demand single/entangled photon sources, and single photon detectors) and quantum metrology (to redefine the Ampère and the quantum Candela).

Email: fsfigakis[at]uwaterloo.ca

Postdoctoral Researchers

Dr. Tarun Patel
Tarun obtained his PhD from the Quantum Materials and Devices Lab at the University of Waterloo. His research primarily involved fabrication and characterization nano-photonic devices constructed from atomically thin 2D materials. Currently, he is engaged in studying the optical properties of quantum sensors and photonic circuits. In the optics lab, you can usually find him designing or experimenting with optical setups. When not in the lab, he indulges in activities such as hiking, swimming, and reading classic literature.
Email: t24patel[at]uwaterloo.ca

Dr. Brad van Kasteren
Brad obtained his PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Waterloo with the Quantum Photonics Devices Lab and rejoined the group as a postdoctoral fellow in 2023. His research interests involve bridging the exotic behaviours of emerging nanostructured materials with practical operation for next-generation technologies with far-reaching applicability. Brad's work with the group included the optimization of optical and electrical qualities of III-V semiconductor nanowire-based devices through numerical methods and developing peripheral systems for their practical operation. Currently, Brad is implementing quenching circuitry and thermoelectric cooling with the lab's nanowire avalanche photodiodes for their use as single-photon detectors.
Email: brad.vankasteren[at]uwaterloo.ca

Dr. Lin Tian
Lin completed her PhD at IMM-CNR Italy on nanowire growth (Si NWs) and characterizations (Si, GaAs and ZnSe NWs) in 2017. She joined the Quantum Photonic Devices group as a postdoctoral fellow in 2018 and has been working towards high frequency electrically-controlled single photon emitters based on GaAs/AlGaAs semiconductors. Her main research focus is on quantum optics and device characterization.
Email: lin.tian.1[at]uwaterloo.ca

Dr. Sasan Vosoogh-Grayli
Sasan received his PhD from the department of Chemistry at Simon Fraser University in the field of plasmonics and nanophotonics. He joined the QPD lab in November 2020 as a postdoctoral fellow. His main research interests are in plasmonics, metamaterials/metasurfaces, and quantum nanophotonic devices. He is currently involved in the realization of integrated quantum nanophotonic devices using on-demand semiconductor quantum dot sources by improving the emission rate of the quantum light sources and understanding the optical response of III-V semiconductor nanowires followed by designing metasurfaces with the highest absorption response that are utilized as the active area for the single photon detectors. Outside of research, Sasan plays soccer and basketball, and enjoys visiting local breweries.
Email: svosooghgrayli[at]uwaterloo.ca

Dr. Nachiket Sherlekar
Nachiket joined the QPD group in the fall of 2016 as a Master’s student in the department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at UW. He received his MASc (Quantum Information) in 2018 and his PhD in 2024. He is continuing in the group as a post-doctoral fellow in the Physics department. Nachiket is interested in engineering novel quantum emitters and is working towards building and characterizing

PhD Students

Brady Cunard
Brady received his B.Eng in Electrical Engineering at the Memorial University of Newfoundland in 2018. After working as a labourer in Ottawa, he became an engineering consultant in Sudbury, where he worked in the famous Nickel mines of Northern Ontario, kilometres underground and below SNOLAB. To further his education, he moved to Halifax, where he worked in Dr. Kimberley Hall's Optics lab. He joined Dr. Reimer's group in January 2022. His focus is on characterizing the Nanowire QD source and designing photonic circuits. Outside the lab, he can be found partaking in combat sports (Kickboxing, Jiu Jitsu, and Wrestling) or at the gym.
Email: blscunar[at]uwaterloo.ca

Jack de Gooyer
Hailing from Nova Scotia, Jack completed his B.Eng in Electrical Engineering at Dalhousie University in 2021 and joined the QDP lab that September. Jack’s work focuses on designing mixed-signal integrated circuits for VLSI of nanowires in biomedical imaging. He also aids in the development of process design kits for photonic circuits. Outside of the lab he can be found backpacking, competing as a varsity rower, or participating in university governance as a member of UW's Board of Governors and Senate. He is co-supervised by Dr. Peter Levine.
Email: jdegooyer[at]uwaterloo.ca

Sayan Gangopadhyay
Sayan received his Bachelor of Science (Research) degree in Physics from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore in 2019 and completed his M.Sc. in Physics (Quantum Information) at the University of Waterloo in the Spring of 2021. He joined the Quantum Photonic Devices lab in the Fall of 2021 as a PhD student. While his bachelor’s and master’s theses are based on theoretical quantum information, he plans to focus his doctoral research on both the theoretical and the experimental aspects of quantum photonic devices towards the realization of quantum cryptographic protocols. Besides research, Sayan dabbles in Indian vocal music including popular songs and the Hindustani classical tradition.
Email: sgangopadhyay[at]uwaterloo.ca

Stephen Harrigan
Stephen obtained his BSc in Physics-Mathematics from the University of Ottawa in 2019 and joined IQC the following fall. His research is focused on the realization of a novel, all-electrical single-photon source based on single-electron pumps in III-V semiconductor heterostructures. Outside of the lab, Stephen is actively involved in various graduate student associations and he enjoys participating in a variety of intramural sports and watching Formula 1.
Email: srharrigan[at]uwaterloo.ca

Sathursan Kokilathasan
Sathursan received his BASc in Nanotechnology Engineering from the University of Waterloo in 2022. He joined the QPD lab that Fall and is interested in device modeling and the integration of photonic circuits for single-photon sources and detectors. He previously worked with the group as an undergraduate research assistant in which he worked on optical simulations and analytical models for single-photon detection in a nanowire. Outside the lab, Sathursan enjoys reading, hiking, and catching up on the latest news in sports.
Email: skokilat[at]uwaterloo.ca

Sonell Malik
Sonell is a Ph.D. student in Physics, she joined the group in the fall of 2021. She received her B.S. and M.S. in Physics from IISER Mohali. She is interested in applied quantum information processing experiments focusing on quantum optics. She will be working on the realization of a quantum repeater, starting her work with the integration of a quantum dot photon source with cold atoms which would serve as quantum memories. In addition to physics, she likes playing basketball, golfing, swimming, hiking, reading, and drinking coffee.
Email: s96malik[at]uwaterloo.ca

Sarah Odinotski
Sarah received her BASc. in Nanotechnology Engineering at the University of Waterloo in 2022, during which time she gained experience working in cancer research (UHN) and in medical device design engineering (UW’s Hearing & IDEATION labs). Since Sarah’s interests lie at the interface between nano-electronics, microfabrication, and medicine, she joined the QPD lab as a PhD student working on the development of a single photon avalanche detector for biophotonic applications. Outside the lab, Sarah takes any opportunity to be outside camping, hiking, or watching the sunrise from her hammock.
Email: saodinotski[at]uwaterloo.ca

Nicholas Paquin
Nicholas is a PhD student in ECE Nanotechnology specializing in nano-fabrication, optoelectronics design and testing. He completed his undergraduate in ECE where he worked on a variety of research projects from work in RF design, Data Science, and FPGAs. He completed a year of a Master’s in ECE Nanotechnology working in microLED fabrication and design before moving to Michael Reimer’s group where he now works on the design, fabrication and development of PIN Cameras. When he’s not in the lab you’ll find Nicholas cycling (Road and Mountain), drinking coffee (ask him about this), lifting and generally vibing in nature.
Email: napaquin[at]uwaterloo.ca

Matteo Pennacchietti
Matteo received his Bachelor of Applied Science in 2020 from Queen’s University in Kingston Ontario, majoring in engineering physics. He joined the QPD lab in September 2020 as a Master of Applied Science student working on single and entangled photon sources. Matteo’s general research interests are concentrated around investigating the confluence of quantum optics, nano-systems, and silicon photonics for applications in quantum information. Outside of research, Matteo enjoys playing soccer, basketball, skiing and reading about the world.
Email: mpennacchietti[at]uwaterloo.ca

Master's Students

Cole Fehr
Cole is an undergraduate student at the University of Waterloo pursuing a BASc degree in Mechatronics Engineering and has been a member of the QPD lab since January 2021. Through his studies, he has developed a keen interest in circuit design and is currently helping plan and design a PCB to support the electronics for a CCD camera (with potential applications for detecting potentially blinding diseases). In his free time, Cole enjoys swimming recreationally, conversing with friends, or riding his Onewheel.
Email: c4fehr[at]uwaterloo.ca

Catalina Morales Gutiérrez
Catalina received her BSc in Physics from the University of Costa Rica in 2024 and joined our group that fall. During her bachelor’s, she researched theoretical and computational cosmology, exploring alternative dark matter models. She was also a research assistant for NASA’s Ticosonde project, handling the calibration, launching, and data analysis of ozone sondes. Additionally, she joined CICIMA to analyze reflectance spectra of Costa Rican scarab beetle cuticles. Catalina was awarded the SPIE@ICFO Maria Yzuel Fellowship, allowing her to intern at the Institute of Photonic Sciences (ICFO) in Barcelona, where she optimized an entangled photon source. Her current focus is on quantum optics, particularly quantum dots and photon sources. Outside research, she enjoys science outreach, swimming, board games, and exploring new restaurants.
Email: c3moralesgutierrez[at]uwaterloo.ca

William Losin
William graduated from the University of Waterloo in 2022 with a BASc in Nanotechnology Engineering with a Physical Sciences Option. He also worked in the QPD lab during his last undergraduate co-op and continued for a year after graduation. This work composed of circuit design and optical and electrical simulations for the development of novel single photon detectors. His current work is focused on the the quantum memory aspect of quantum repeaters. Aside from the lab, William enjoys traveling, choral singing, and playing board games.
Email: wflosin[at]uwaterloo.ca

Lucas Roy
Lucas received his HBSc. in Physics at the University of Toronto in 2021. While Lucas focused on Physics, he also studied Computer Science and Mathematics, where he gained experience in Machine Learning research and its applications to automatic code annotation. Lucas spent 2022 leveraging his Computer Science and Physics background as an Embedded Software Engineer developing a quantum LiDAR system. Lucas' interests have been interdisciplinary, and his passion for knowledge is what brought him to the QPD lab as a Master's student working on the development of a single-photon avalanche diode. During his free time, Lucas likes reading, philosophy, unicycling, snowboarding, and open-water scuba diving.
Email: la3roy[at]uwaterloo.ca

URAs

None at the moment, try and apply!

Alumni

Dr. Nachiket Sherlekar
PhD Student (09/2019 to 06/2024)
Thesis Title: Towards Gated Quantum Emitters From Undoped Nano-LED's

Maeve Wentland
Master's student (05/2021 to 12/2023)
Thesis Title: Implementation of a Universal Fine-Structure Splitting Eraser for Quantum Dots

Dr. Brad van Kasteren
PhD Student (09/2017 to 02/2023)
Thesis Title: Emerging semiconductor nanostructure materials for single-photon avalanche diodes

Dr. Burak Tekcan
PhD Student (01/2017 to 12/2022)
Thesis Title: III-V semiconductor nanowire array avalanche photodiodes

Dr. Mohd Zeeshan
PhD Student (09/2015 to 09/2020)
Thesis Title: Quadrupole Electric Field for Erasing the Fine Structure Splitting of a Nanowire Quantum Dot Entangled Photon Source
Postdoctoral Research Fellow (1/2021 to 12/2022)
Continuing research towards developing on-demand tunable nanowire entangled photon sources and integrating them with atomic-based quantum memories to build a quantum repeater

Turner Garrow
Master's Student (09/2019 to 11/2021)
Thesis Title: Resonant excitation of a nanowire quantum dot and optical frequency shifting via electro-optic modulation

Dr. Arash Ahmadi
PhD Student (09/2015 to 01/2020)
Thesis Title: Towards on-demand generation of entangled photons with quantum dots

Michael Kobierski
MASc Student (09/2017 to 01/2020)
Thesis Title: Frequency shifting a single photon by electro-optic modulation

Simon Daley
MASc Student (09/2016 to 08/2019)
Thesis Title: Electro-optic rotating half-waveplate for a quantum dot fine-structure eraser

Visiting Scholars

Divya Bharadwaj
IQC Postdoctoral Research Fellow (10/2018 to 12/2021)
Project Title: Hybrid Quantum Repeater

Dr. Andreas Fognini
Postdoctoral Research Fellow (10/2016 and 06/2018)
Project Title: 1. On-demand entangled photon source
2. Universal fine structure eraser for quantum dots

Dr. Sara Hosseini
IQC Postdoctoral Research Fellow (03/2017 to 02/2020)
Project Title: Electrically driven GHz entangled photon sources

Dr. Sandra Gibson
Postdoctoral Research Fellow (06/2015 to 08/2018)
Project Title: Quantum nanophotonic interface

Undergraduate Students

Cole Fehr (01/2021 to 08/2024)
Active Quench SPAD Circuit

Sathursan Kokilathasan (01/2022 to 08/2022)
World's Smallest Detector

William Fredrick Losin(01/2021 to 04/2022)
Optical and Electrical Simulation of SPAD's

Evan Dalacu (05/2020 to 08/2020)
Tunable quantum light sources

Sonell Malik (05/2019 to 09/2019)
Hybrid quantum repeater node

Alain Emiel Cornelis Van den Bosch (05/2019 to 09/2019)
Fine-structure splitting eraser

Prabal Gupta (09/2018 to 12/2018)
Tunable entangled photon sources

Juan Castaneda (05/2018 to 08/2018)
On-demand entangled photon source

Oberon Dixon-Luinenburg (01/2017 to 04/2017)
Photonic nanowire far field profile and transmission optimization for single photon emitters in quantum information systems

Bradley Edward van Kasteren (01/2017 to 04/2017)
Design of a III-V nanowire single photon detector

Daniela Angulo Murcillo (05/2016 to 08/2016)
Quantum state tomography

Simon Daley (05/2015 to 08/2015)
Towards on-demand three-photon entanglement