For many undergraduate students, summers may be a time for part-time jobs or summer schools. However, four students at the University of Toronto spent their summer conducting cutting-edge research in quantum science and engineering— a unique opportunity for undergraduate students.
Their research projects were funded through the Centre for Quantum Information and Quantum Control (CQIQC)’s Undergraduate Summer Research Scholarship Program. CQIQC is a research centre under the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Arts and Science, whose mission is to advance quantum science and technology research at U of T. CQIQC’s faculty members are professors in different departments at the University, including Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE), Physics, Chemistry, Math, and Computer Science. The summer scholarships allow recipients to undertake summer research projects in CQIQC members’ research groups.
This program is “a great stepping stone for pursuing graduate studies in quantum,” says past recipient Vivek Dhande, a 4th year Engineering undergraduate. In summer 2022, he conducted his research project under ECE’s Professor Sorin Voinigescu. “Through CQIQC’s events, conferences and strong connection with Toronto's leading quantum industry partners, I enjoyed meeting and growing my network with members of the wider U of T and Toronto's quantum community. The program allowed me to dive into semiconductor spin-qubits, one of the leading quantum computing platforms. Not only did it introduce me to the spin-qubit hardware architecture in an engineering-minded manner, but I also pursued a graduate-level project on silicon quantum dot simulations – providing early insights into optimal qubit device design.”
This year, CQIQC received 65 outstanding applications. Four students were selected through a process based on academic performance and a supplementary application.
Each recipient sat down for an interview to discuss their research project, the scholarship program, and their future goals.
Please click the button below to read each student’s interview.
Note: The program year reflects the student’s status when admitted to CQIQC Summer Program.
Amirali Atrli (2nd year, Physics Specialist with a Math minor) CQIQC supervisor: Professor John Sipe (Physics)
![IMG_4661[46]](/media/images/IMG_466146.width-500.png)
What intrigued you to apply to the CQIQC Summer Research Scholarship program?
I have been interested in quantum mechanics since it is a region in physics I have had the least interaction with. My first one was with Professor Steinberg’s quantum course. I also had a love for and interest in light and optics and wanted to know more about photons and light. So, the field of quantum optics and how light and matter interact was highly interesting to me. I applied to CQIQC to hopefully delve into this field and learn more by doing research under the supervision of those who are part of CQIQC.
What was your summer research project about? What results did you achieve?
I worked in Professor John Sipe’s group in the field of nonlinear quantum optics. Working under his supervision and with graduate student Samuel Fontaine and postdoc Colin Vendromin was a true pleasure, and I learned an abundance from them.
I was involved in projects concerning efficient schemes and designs for spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC) on chips. SPDC is a process when, in a non-linear optical medium, a single photon spontaneously turns into two photons of lower energy, which happen to be quantum-mechanically entangled. Thus, achieving high rates of SPDC processes is crucial for some quantum fields, such as optical quantum computer schemes. Part of our work was concerned with ring resonators, which allow a single photon to stay in them for a relatively long time. Thus, they increase the chances of it undergoing SPDC as it interacts with the nonlinear media for an extended amount of time. Since one can adjust the curvature of the ring resonator, it can be tweaked to satisfy one of the main conditions for SPDC called the (quasi-) phase-matching condition, which sets a curved waveguide apart from a straight waveguide, in which this condition is not satisfied.
Another design I worked more closely on was the “snaky waveguide,” which is shaped as the name suggests. This is an ongoing project in which we have been trying to find optimal shapes for the said snake to maximize its SPDC rate.
What are the potential applications of your research?
A possible application could be finding ways to produce entangled photon pairs at a higher rate than current rates in the field. There are various usages for high-rate photon pair production, namely implementing them in quantum optical computers. I think that one of the main challenges of some quantum computer designs is in producing entangled photon pairs at high enough rates. Now, if one can produce sufficient rates on a small chip, that could be useful for those designs.
What was your overall experience with CQIQC?
It was perfect! I enjoyed the Quantum Tea Talks. Besides that, I enjoy being on the 10th floor alongside some CQIQC participants. But my main highlight was working under John’s supervision and his wonderful group. That's been the most enjoyable thing I could have done with my summer.
Before this program, what were your future goals? Did partaking in this program help achieve these goals? If so, how?
One of my goals was to learn more about quantum properties of particular objects, such as photons and vacuum. Through this research, I got a chance to work with photons since quantum optics is concerned with the quantum properties of light. My goals have changed in the sense that they're more refined. Now, I know more about what I can and want to explore. As previously, I had a vague idea of what was in this unknown field.
What was your favourite memory from partaking in this program?
Watching Singin' in the Rain with our group!
Tanmay Grover (2nd Year, Physics and Math Specialist) CQIQC supervisor: Professor Arun Paramekanti (Physics)
What intrigued you to apply to the CQIQC Summer Research Scholarship program?
Unfortunately, as an international student, some popular funding opportunities, such as NSERC, were unavailable to me. [The] CQIQC summer scholarship was one I was eligible for, so I applied! As a bonus, it helps that CQIQC is the center for quantum research because PHY256 (Intro to Quantum) was one of my favourite courses I’ve taken so far.
What was your summer research project about? What results did you achieve?
I worked with Professor Arun Paramekanti. We looked at skyrmions – magnetic vortices that have a non-zero topological charge – in bilayered systems where the topological charge of the skyrmion in the two layers is opposite. We did some Monte Carlo simulations to obtain a phase diagram to see some regimes in which these skyrmions were stabilized, as well as doing some calculations for the energy band structure of these systems and the corresponding Chern Number.
Before this program, what were your future goals? Did partaking in this program help achieve these goals? If so, how?
I was interested in applying for grad school after undergrad but had no clue what subfields may or may not be interesting. I enjoyed my research over [the] summer and reading and learning about some of the sophisticated ideas and techniques that were involved. I’m inclined towards studying condensed matter physics.
What was your overall experience with CQIQC?
I was quite pleased with my experience with CQIQC.
What was your favourite memory from partaking in this program?
Getting to meet different people! Through this opportunity, I was able to interact with other undergrads and graduate students and hear and learn about their unique experiences. Getting to connect with other people with similar interests was extremely valuable.
Nicholas Taylor (3rd year, Physics Specialist with a Math Major) CQIQC supervisor: Professor Arno Jacobsen (ECE)
What intrigued you to apply to the CQIQC Summer Research Scholarship program?
I was eager to start my first undergraduate research opportunity, and the CQIQC program gave me a chance to explore topics in quantum information, which I’ve been interested in since my 2nd-year quantum mechanics’ class.
What was your summer research project about? What results did you achieve?
My research project was on benchmarking quantum machine learning methods for regression in computational chemistry. The project isn’t finished yet, so we have limited results but [we] are eager to see the end product. My supervisor was ECE Professor Hans-Arno Jacobsen in the Middleware Systems Research Group.
Before this program, what were your future goals? Did partaking in this program help achieve these goals? If so, how?
Since starting university, I’ve always hoped to attend graduate school and pursue an academic career. This experience has only strengthened my aspirations and given me a step in the right direction to achieving these goals. Thanks to the CQIQC program, I now have an idea of what research will look like in grad school, and I’ve made connections that can help me throughout my academic career.
What was your overall experience with CQIQC?
Overall, my experience with CQIQC was amazing. I enjoyed learning from the postdoc in my group, Dr. Viki Kumar Prasad, and developing my skills as I worked on the project. I went to the Quantum Teas hosted by CQIQC, where I enjoyed learning about the other research going on within the department and then discussing with others in my group how it related to what we were doing.
What was your favourite memory from partaking in this program?
My favourite memory would be when I presented my poster at the Data Science Institute’s (DSI) SUDS Showcase. It was exciting to share my hard work with everybody and see many other intriguing data science projects. I loved seeing the intersection between multiple disciplines come together so that we could all learn from each other.
Photo: Nicholas Taylor presenting his project at the 2023 DSI's SUDS Showcase.
Qinyuan Yang (3rd year, Physics and Math Specialist) CQIQC supervisor: Professor Li Qian (ECE)
What intrigued you to apply to the CQIQC Summer Research Scholarship program?
The biggest reason is that I am really interested in quantum information. Among all of U of T’s research programs, this program was the best opportunity for me to explore my interest in quantum information. So, I just applied for it, and I'm very glad I got in!
What was your summer research project about? What results did you achieve?
I was part of Professor Li Qian’s research group. My summer research project is titled “Blind Quantum State Tomography.” I'm trying to find a method to compensate for some influence caused by fibres during the transmission of photons. So, for now, we have found an imperfect solution for that. Currently, I am searching for a better solution for it.
What are some possible applications of your research?
Quantum state tomography can be very useful for checking entanglement state. If we have entangled photons, it will be really useful to check if those photons are really entangled through this process. Other applications include checking what kind of state is transmitted or measuring the result of a quantum state. We can apply this method to a lot of fields of quantum information— it’s is like an examiner for the quantum state.
Before this program, what were your future goals? Did partaking in this program help achieve these goals? If so, how?
Before this program, I was very determined to apply for grad school, mainly doing research. I'm not sure what I should do after grad school, but I would like to research physics, especially quantum information. Participating in Qian’s group taught me a lot about quantum information and related fields like nonlinear optics.
What was your overall experience with CQIQC?
CQIQC has so many great seminars and conferences, like with IBM and other industry companies. I participated in many of those conferences and workshops and had a great experience! I learned a lot about quantum computers and built up my own concepts and understanding of quantum information. CQIQC has really enhanced my interest in this field. This [program] is the best opportunity for students to learn more about quantum computing. So, I really appreciate it!
What was your favourite memory from partaking in this program?
How I witnessed my own growth. It's really enjoyable for me to see how my research skills have improved and how my knowledge about quantum information and photonics has enhanced. This is the most enjoyable experience during the summer.
Photo: Qinyuan Yang inside Professor Qian's lab.
The number of applicants CQIQC received is a testament to the stellar talent and brilliance in U of T’s undergraduate community. "We were delighted to have received so many outstanding applications from top students. It was difficult to disappoint so many of them,” says Dvira Segal, CQIQC’s Director and a professor in the Department of Chemistry. “To all students – those who have joined CQIQC this summer and those we could not extend an offer – I hope that each of you maintains your passion for research wherever your journey continues”.