Author: Annameng Ma

Congratulations to Dr Suraj Goel – STEM for BRITAIN Finalist

Annameng Ma

We’re proud to celebrate Dr Suraj Goel, who recently presented his research at the House of Commons of the United Kingdom as a finalist in the Physics category of STEM for BRITAIN 2025.

Held on the Portcullis UK Parliament House, this prestigious annual competition highlights the outstanding work of early-career researchers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Organised by the All-Party Parliamentary and Scientific Committee, it gives members of Parliament a valuable opportunity to engage with the next generation of UK researchers.

Dr Goel’s participation is a fantastic achievement and a reflection of the exciting, high-impact research being carried out within our community. Congratulations again, Suraj!

A rare sight of Suraj in a suit

To learn more about the competition, visit: www.stemforbritain.org.uk

Welcome Eli!

Annameng Ma

Let’s give a warm (Scottish) summer welcome to Eli Mayes, our new visiting student! Originally from Rome, Georgia, U.S.A., he is currently an undergraduate at Colgate University in Hamilton, New York. He is in the final years of his Physics degree and is a fanatic of art, pursuing a Bachelor’s degree with a minor in Studio Art.

During his time at Colgate, he has worked on the utilization of Poincaré beams for free-space communications and gravitational lensing. In his free time, he enjoys cooking, playing video games, and Magic: The Gathering.

Welcome Eli!

BBQLab @ Single Photon Workshop

Annameng Ma

We are thrilled to share that the BBQLab presented 5 posters and a talk at the 11th Single Photon Workshop (SPW)—the world’s largest international conference dedicated to single-photon generation, detection technologies, and their applications.

Last winter, after being hosted in various locations around the world, Heriot-Watt University and the University of Glasgow had the honour of organizing this prestigious event in Edinburgh. The conference brought together over 400 delegates from across the globe, representing 43 organizations, for five days of groundbreaking research presentations, insightful discussions, and unparalleled networking opportunities. In this opportunity, the event also came with a uniquely Scottish touch—plenty of bagpipes—and an exciting appearance by the European Quantum Light Tour, which showcased a traveling single-photon source secured in a briefcase.

We are proud to have contributed to this incredible event and look forward to seeing how the ideas exchanged at SPW continue to shape the future of quantum photonics!

Arxiv: Certifying high-dimensional quantum channels

Annameng Ma

We are excited to announce our latest arXiv submission: “Certifying high-dimensional quantum channels” (https://arxiv.org/abs/2408.15880). High-dimensional quantum communication offers significant advantages like increased information capacity and enhanced noise resilience. But how do we reliably certify that a quantum channel can transmit this high-dimensional information?

In our paper, we introduce novel, efficient methods for characterizing the dimensionality of quantum channels. Using a prepare-and-measure setup, we develop certification witnesses for both fully and partially trusted scenarios. We apply these methods to a photonic experiment, successfully certifying dimensionalities up to 59 through a commercial graded-index multi-mode optical fiber. Additionally, we provide detailed numerical simulations that model the noise behaviour of the fiber and explore more advanced certification techniques.

We developed witnesses for an unknown high-dimensional quantum channel Λ with: a) a fully trusted receiver’s device, and b) a partially trusted model.

Our work represents a key step towards robust, high-dimensional quantum communication systems. For more information, check out our full preprint!