How to catch, and detect, a photon (Prof. W. Tittel)

Date: May 20, 2016
Time: 11:00 AM - 01:00 PM (Local Time Germany)
Speaker: Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Tittel, Institute for Quantum Science and Technology, and Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of Calgary, Canada
Room: Herbert Walther Lecture Hall
Host: MPQ

Future quantum networks will allow the secure distribution of encryption keys over extended distances, blind quantum computing, and networked quantum computers and atomic clocks.

I will discuss our experimental work on two key ingredients of such networks: a solid-state storage device for quantum states of light, and a detector that promises detecting the presence of photons without destroying them. Both devices employ a Thulium-doped LiNbO3 crystal cooled to a temperature of around 1K.

Biography:

Wolfgang Tittel joined the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Calgary in 2006 as an Industrial Research Chair in Quantum Cryptography and Communication. He is also an executive committee member of the University’s Institute for Quantum Science and Technology, and a senior Fellow of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research. Professor Tittel received his MSc from the University of Frankfurt, Germany in 1996, and his PhD from the University of Geneva, Switzerland in 2000. His work was seminal in bringing quantum communication out of the laboratory and into the real world, and was repeatedly selected by the Optical Society of America and the American Physical Society to be one of the year’s greatest achievements.