BBQ Lab

I am very pleased to share that I have been awarded a Consolidator Grant from the European Research Council (ERC). The €3M QUEST project will harness the enormous potential of structured quantum light in space and time to develop new quantum technologies for the efficient generation, distribution, and measurement of entanglement. We will be advertising PhD and Postdoc positions associated with this grant soon. Please register your interest on our openings page if you would like to be notified when these positions are open.

Heriot-Watt press release: https://www.hw.ac.uk/news/2025/major-european-grant-boosts-quantum-research-at-heriot-watt-university
ERC press release: https://erc.europa.eu/news-events/news/erc-2025-consolidator-grants-results

It was a pleasure to be a part of the Institute of Physics‘s celebration of 100 years of quantum science and technology in London last month. I was part of a panel where we discussed what the future holds for quantum, and what is needed today to realise that vision. Here’s to another 100 years of exciting progress in the field!

Read all about it in: “From building a workforce to boosting research and education – future quantum leaders have their say” – Matin Durrani

What will the quantum networks of the future look like? How do you route and teleport entanglement to multiple users in a reconfigurable manner?

In our paper published in Nature Photonics this month, we show how light scattering inside a simple optical fibre can be harnessed to program complex multi-mode optical circuits. We then use these circuits to implement a completely reconfigurable quantum network interconnecting eight users with entanglement!

Looking sharp in the lab

Paper link: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41566-025-01806-x
Press release: https://www.hw.ac.uk/news/2025/shop-bought-cable-powers-quantum-breakthrough-2
Physics World Story: https://physicsworld.com/a/quantum-photonics-network-passes-a-scaling-up-milestone/

The BBQLab team joined the photonics jam session at the 2025 Scottish Conference for Optical Technologies (SCOT), held from 13–15 October at the Advanced Research Centre (ARC) in Glasgow. SCOT 2025 was organised by postgraduate physics student chapters across Scotland, including the University of Glasgow, St Andrews, and Heriot-Watt, with contributions from our own chapter president, Annameng Mariana. This year’s programme featured over 10 invited speakers representing both industry and academia, alongside early-career researchers working at the front line of optics and photonics.

Across the three days, BBQLab members engaged in discussions with students and researchers from universities across Scotland, exchanging the latest ideas on multimode fibre quantum circuits, photonic detectors, and the realities of research commercialisation. Conversations ranged from engineered light scattering to fast-modulation experiments, with a shared focus on how photonics is evolving across academic and industrial settings in Scotland.

Hope to see everyone and more on the 2026 edition!

A big welcome to Samuel Donachie, who joins us for his PhD from Paris, France! Samuel obtained his Masters in Physics from La Sorbonne University in Paris, during which he was with us for a summer internship back in 2024. Samuel is part of the new Applied Quantum Technologies Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) hosted at Heriot-Watt, Glasgow, and Strathclyde Universities. He is currently working on designing large-scale quantum circuits for structured light. Interestingly, Samuel is also the first (half) Scottish member of our group! Here’s to many exciting years of quantum research ahead 🙂