Author: nataliahv

We are very excited to be featured on the cover of the February issue of Nature Photonics!

The cover is an artistic illustration inspired by our work on reconfigurable quantum networks, where we harness light scattering inside a simple multi-mode optical fibre to distribute and swap entanglement to a large-scale network of eight users in a completely reconfigurable manner. The tetradecahedron (14-sided shape) on the cover represents our scattering-based 8×8-mode optical circuit!

In addition to our article’s publication, this issue also includes a News and Views article discussing the work and its impact.

In May, Dr. Natalia Herrera Valencia had the chance to give a talk in Bogotá — their hometown — as part of “100 años de la cuántica: un legado que construye futuro”, an event hosted by Universidad de Los Andes to celebrate a century of quantum science.

It was a special one. Not just because of the topic — quantum technologies and how they’re already shaping our present and future — but because it was Natalia’s first-ever physics talk in Spanish.

The event brought together researchers from all over Colombia and beyond, with talks and a panel exploring the science, history, and philosophy of quantum mechanics. Speakers included folks from Purdue, Universidad Nacional, Universidad de Antioquia, Jorge Tadeo Lozano, and Antonio Nariño.

🎥 You can catch the full recording here:
🔗 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xwf3c4J6DUY

We are currently advertising a 4-year PhD studentship and a 4-year CDT studentship.

We are also looking for two Postdoctoral Research Associates to join our group.

If you are interested in joining us, please look at our Openings page for more information. The PhD Studentship and two postdoc positions will be open for applications until January 31st, 2025. The CDT Studentship is open for applications until February 7th, 2025

Prof. Mehul Malik was one of the speakers at the 3rd Edition of the World Laureates Forum in Shangai, China. The WLA is a one-of-a-kind scientific conference. It gathered over 50 prize-winners, including laureates of the Nobel Prize, Wolf Prize, Lasker Award, Turing Award, Breakthrough Award, MacArthur Fellowship and Fields Medal, as well as outstanding young scientists worldwide, and hundreds of Chinese academics and students.

Held under the theme “Science and Technology, for the Common Destiny of Mankind,” the annual WLF advocates for science worldwide, promoting the growth of young scientists and cross-border scientific cooperation. Beyond the exceptional quality and content of the conference, it offers a global platform that demonstrates international scientific dialogue must transcend geopolitical tensions, and we as scientists must strive to ensure that it does.

We are delighted to welcome the newest addition to the BBQ Lab team: Mariana Annameng Ma!

Originally from China, Mariana obtained her undergraduate and master’s degrees in Physics at the Universidad de Buenos Aires. For her dissertation, she worked on the generation of correlated two-photon and four-photon states, characterising them through interferometric techniques. Now that she is joining us as a PhD student, we are excited to welcome her in the BBQ Lab to continue having fun with photonic entanglement.