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Saumya Choudhary successfully defends her thesis.

30 Nov 2023

Saumya’s thesis “Light-Matter Interaction in Plasmonic Systems and Atomic Vapor” was successfully defended in Rochester on November 29, 2023. The Boyd group is very proud of this long-time member’s success and of the excellence of her work.


Shaping quantum light in space and time can enable the internet of the future

General-audience article published by Mehul Malik in the Royal Society of Edinburgh Blog

12 Jul 2023

Former group member Mehul Malik publishes article for the general audience on “Shaping Quantum Light in Space and Time Can Enable the Internet of the Future.” You can read it here [Link]


ACS Photonics Cover

Figure from research article featured on ACS photonics cover

18 Jan 2023

Congratulations to group members Saumya Choudhary, Saleem Iqbal, Mohammad Karimi, Orad Reshef, M. Zahirul Alam, and Robert Boyd for their recent paper in ACS Photonics [Link]. A figure from this paper has been chosen to appear on the cover of this issue [Link]


Saad-bin-Alam successfully defends his PhD thesis

13 Jan 2023

Former group member Mehul Malik receives the Early Career Medal of the Royal Society of Edinburgh

27 Sep 2021

Rochester researchers develop method to eliminate distortions in multimode fibers

13 May 2021

The use of multimode optical fibers to boost the information capacity of the Internet is severely hampered by distortions that occur during the transmission of images because of a phenomenon called modal crosstalk. Rochester researchers devised a novel technique, described in a paper in [Link], to “flip” the optical wavefront of an image


Congratulations to Enno Giese who has just accepted a position as assistant professor at the Technical University of Darmstadt. At TUD he will build up a group in Theoretical Quantum Optics at the Institute for Applied Physics.

23 Apr 2021

Congratulations to former student and current colleague Ksenia Dolgaleva on the publication of her textbook Introduction to Optics I, Interaction of Light with Matter, published this month by Morgan & Claypool Publishers.

30 Oct 2020

Congratulations to Nick and Libby Black on the birth of their first child, Henry Anderson Black, on September 11, 2020. Nick is a current PhD student in the Boyd group at the University of Rochester.

16 Sep 2020

Congratulations to Ksenia Dolgaleva on the birth of her son Ivan on August 12, 2020. In the back row of the photo is Evgueni Kobzev (father) holding Ivan and standing next to Ksenia. In the front row are Ivan’s sisters Anastasia (left) and Nina (right). Ksenia is on her way to having a whole family of physicists.

26 Aug 2020

Congratulations to Akbar Safari and his wife Mobina Alizadeh on the August 5 birth of their daughter Melody Safari.

17 Aug 2020

Congratulations to Zahirul Alam and his wife Fatima Uddin on the July 4 birth of their son Aydin Muhammad Alamuddin.

29 Jul 2020

Congratulations to John and Eimi Heebner on the occasion of their wedding on July 20 at Yosemite National Park.

28 Jul 2020

(From what John tells me, this photo is not a fake; the Milky Way really is that bright with a 10 sec exposure.)


Congratulations to Saad Jaddua for successfully defending his MSc thesis on July 23, 2020 via a Zoom link.

27 Jul 2020

Thesis title: Propagation of a Single Photon in a 1-D Waveguide Coupled to a V-Type Atom.
Photo: Clockwise from upper left: Jeff Lundeen, Committee Member; Robert Boyd, Thesis Supervisor; Jacob Krich, Committee
Member; Saad Jaddua, MSc Candidate; André Staudte, Committee Chair.


Congratulations to Girish Kulkurani and his wife Mugdha Kulashreshtha on the July 10 birth of their daughter Mehak Kulkurani.

15 Jul 2020

Congratulations to Mehul Malik

30 Jun 2020

Congratulations to Boyd-group alumnus Mehul Malik who was recently promoted to Associate Professor of Physics at Heriot-Watt University.


Congratulations to Katherine Bearne and her teammates for their victory at the 2019 FISU University World Cup.

3 Dec 2019

Congratulations to Mohammad Mirhosseini (former group PhD student) who has just accepted a faculty position at Caltech.

11 Nov 2019

Robert Boyd receives certificate from Max Planck Director Florian Marquardt naming him Visiting Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light in Erlangen.

4 Nov 2019

Robert Boyd visits the University of Minnesota to present the Colloquium of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

18 Apr 2019

The photo shows Mitchell Luskin, Sang-Hyun Oh, Bob, Jim Ledger, and Tony Low on the observation platform of the Guthrie Theatre with the Mississippi River in the background.

 


Congratulations to our former group member Alexander Gaeta for winning the 2019 Charles Hard Townes Award.

8 Apr 2019

Robert Boyd with Robert Millard (left), Chair of the MIT Corporation, and Susan Hockfield (right), former President of MIT

22 Feb 2019

Robert Boyd wins the 2018-2019 University of Ottawa Researcher of the Year Award

19 Feb 2019

Lab visit with Nobel Laureate in Physics Dr. Donna Strickland

18 Jan 2019


Congratulations to Robert Fickler who has just joined the faculty of Tampere University. He is looking for students and postdocs to join him.

13 Nov 2018

New graduate course to be offered fall 2018. Boris Braverman and Robert Boyd will be jointly teaching a course on Quantum Information and Metrology PHY8191(C) during the fall semester.

28 May 2018

Congratulations to Omar Magaña! Omar has just accepted a position as Assistant Professor of Physics at Louisiana State University. Way to go, Omar.

25 May 2018

Congratulations to Sebastian Schulz for his new faculty position at the University of St. Andrews.

26 Mar 2018

Congratulations to Mehul Malik for his new faculty position at Heriot-Watt University.

26 Mar 2018

Boyd group reunion in Baton Rouge

15 Mar 2018

Physics family photo where former Boyd-student Mark Gruneisen meets current Boyd group members Robert Fickler and Fredéric Bouchard at the International Conference on Quantum Communication, Measurement and Computing (QCMC) at LSU in Baton Rouge, LA, USA.


Marco Liscidini of the University of Pavia presents the Quantum Photonics seminar on Engineering non-classical light in integrated devices

7 Mar 2018

Robert Boyd Working to Realize Orbital Angular Momentum Quantum Cryptography Protocol

22 Feb 2018

Chinese researchers have put forward a new quantum cryptography standard which Robert Boyd has begun work to realize in the lab. ([Link])


Photonics breakthrough could significantly boost internet speeds

9 Feb 2018

A breakthrough in materials for photonics applications could result in faster internet speeds by a considerable order of magnitude. [Link], the new technology combines two known concepts: meta-materials consisting of arrays of antennas and a thin film of a non-linear material. ([Link])


Metamaterial could boost internet speeds, cut power

7 Feb 2018

A team from the University of Ottawa and Ireland’s Tyndall National Institute and Cork Institute of Technology has developed a custom, artificial material that could improve several nonlinear optical applications. Alongside better internet speeds, the team suggests that thinner lenses could be created for cameras and mobile phones, as could


“Generation of Caustics and Rogue Waves from Nonlinear Instability” named Editor’s suggestion

10 Dec 2017

“Generation of Caustics and Rogue Waves from Nonlinear Instability” named Editor’s suggestion in Physical Letters Review. ([Link])


Taiwan’s Minister of Science Visits the Boyd Group.

25 Oct 2017

Liang-Gee Chen, Taiwan’s Minister of Science and Technology visits the Advanced Research Group.


Congratulations to M. Zahirul Alam

19 Oct 2017

for being selected by the Award Committee to receive the Best Student Paper Award (first place) for his paper  “Unity-order Nonlinear Index Change in a Metasurface” presented at Photonics North 2017 in Ottawa.The award certificate will be presented to him at the IEEE Ottawa Section Annual General Meeting(AGM), to be held


Dr. Orad Reshef is awarded the Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship

17 Jul 2017

Dr. Orad Reshef is awarded the Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship for his proposal, “Nonlinear optics in integrated zero-index media.” [Link]


A 100-year-old physics problem has been solved at EPFL

23 Jun 2017

EPFL researchers have found a way around what was considered a fundamental limitation of physics for over 100 years. They were able to conceive resonant systems that can store electromagnetic waves over a long period of time while maintaining a broad bandwidth. ([Link])


“Photonic Crystal Slow Light Waveguides in a Kagome Lattice” named Editor’s Pick

1 May 2017

“Photonic Crystal Slow Light Waveguides in a Kagome Lattice” was named Editor’s pick. ([Link])


Physicists detect exotic looped trajectories of light in three-slit experiment

6 Jan 2017

Physicists have performed a variation of the famous 200-year-old double-slit experiment that, for the first time, involves “exotic looped trajectories” of photons. These photons travel forward through one slit, then loop around and travel back through another slit, and then sometimes loop around again and travel forward through a third


“Application-tailored optimisation of photonic crystal waveguides” named paper of the week

1 Nov 2016

The paper “Application-tailored optimisation of photonic crystal waveguides” was named paper of the week by the Journal of Optics. ([Link])


Robert Boyd gives an invited talk at the Royal Society of London

17 Aug 2016

Robert Boyd was appointed as a IEEE Photonics Society Distinguished Lecturer a second year in a row

17 Aug 2016

Robert Boyd awarded the 2016 Arthur L. Schawlow Prize in Laser Science

17 Aug 2016

Robert Boyd was awarded the 2016 Arthur L. Schawlow Prize in Laser Science for his to recognize outstanding contributions to basic research which uses lasers to advance our knowledge of the fundamental physical properties of materials and their interaction with light. [Link]


Dr. Robert Fickler is awarded the Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship for his proposal, “Twisting Macroscopic Quantum Light.”

17 Jun 2016

Record Optical Nonlinearity in a Semiconductor

5 May 2016

Researchers at a U.S. university have found a record nonlinear optical response in a commonly available semiconductor (Science, doi: [Link]). The results could open new avenues for building tiny structures for many nanophotonics applications. ([Link])


Indium Tin Oxide Might Be the Material Photonics Has Been Waiting For

28 Apr 2016

A team led by Robert Boyd, a physicist at the University of Ottawa and the University of Rochester, [Link] that a transparent metal called indium tin oxide (ITO), which is often used in touchscreens and on airplane windows, can achieve a particularly high degree of optical nonlinearity—making it a good candidate for


‘Game-changer’ for photonics applications: Researchers demonstrate record optical nonlinearity

28 Apr 2016

A team, led by Robert W. Boyd, Professor of Optics and Physics at the University of Rochester and the Canada Excellence Research Chair in Quantum Nonlinear Optics at the University of Ottawa, has demonstrated that the transparent, electrical conductor  can result in up to 100 times greater nonlinearity


A twist on Hanbury Brown—Twiss interferometry offers new approach for remote sensing

8 Apr 2016

In a paper, published in Science Advances today, the researchers demonstrate that for light from a source such as the Sun, random fluctuations of intensity give rise to correlations of  beams. They showed the presence of these correlations by modifying a now classical experiment called Hanbury Brown – Twiss (HBT)


Researchers demonstrate a new way to characterize twisted light

1 Apr 2016

Researchers at the University of Rochester have overcome experimental challenges to demonstrate a new way for getting a full picture of twisted light: characterizing the Wigner distribution. ([Link])


Robert Boyd awarded the 2016 Charles Hard Townes Award

14 Mar 2016

Robert Boyd was awarded the 2016 Charles Hard Townes Award by the Optical Society of America for fundamental contributions to the field of nonlinear optics, including the development of methods for controlling the velocity of light, of quantum imaging methods, and of composite nonlinear optical materials. [Link]


Physicists experimentally realize a quantum Hilbert hotel

21 Oct 2015

In their paper, the physicists proposed two ways to model this phenomena—one theoretical and one experimental—both of which use the infinite number of quantum states of a quantum system to represent the infinite number of hotel rooms in a hotel. ([Link])


Adding Quantum Rooms to the Hilbert Hotel

15 Oct 2015

An optical experiment realizes one of the room-changing operations in the Hilbert Hotel—a fictitious establishment that illustrates some perplexing properties of infinity. ([Link])


Robert Boyd presents his view on Charles Townes’ legacy at a meeting of former Townes Ph.D. students

17 Aug 2015

Check out this video produced by the Canada Excellence Research Chair program

17 Aug 2015

Article selected for Journal of Optics as a Highlight of 2015

2 Jul 2015

Our article titled “Beyond the effective index method: improved accuracy for 2D simulations of photonic crystal waveguides” was selected by the editors of Journal of Optics as a Highlight of 2015. [Link]


Dr. Gerd Leuchs and Dr. Robert Boyd invited for Max-Planck-Forum in Berlin on Quantum Cryptography

26 Jun 2015

‘Twisted light’ gives quantum cryptography a boost

27 Mar 2015

The efficiency of quantum-cryptographic systems could be improved thanks to a new technique that uses “twisted light” to increase the amount of information carried per photon. ([Link])


Orbital angular momentum Broadband Generation

3 Feb 2015

Generating Mobius strips of light

29 Jan 2015

A collaboration of researchers from Canada, Europe and the USA have experimentally produced Möbius strips from the polarization of light, confirming a theoretical prediction that it is possible for light’s electromagnetic field to assume this peculiar shape. ([Link])


Möbius strips of light made for the first time

29 Jan 2015

Banzer’s team scattered two polarised green laser beams off a gold bead that was smaller than the wavelength of the light. The resulting inference introduced a polarisation pattern with either three or five twists, giving it a Möbius-like structure. ([Link])


How to twist light into a Möbius strip

29 Jan 2015

The team used a green laser beam that was a superposition of two waves with opposing spin. The result was a beam with a polarization that varied across its width. It was circularly polarized at its centre, but linearly polarized – and with varying orientations of the polarization vector –


Sad News: Nobel laureate and laser inventor Charles Townes dies at 99

27 Jan 2015

Big Twist for Electron Beam

23 Jan 2015

Marie-Claude Dicaire wins the 2014 IEEE Ottawa Photonics Student Best Paper Award

13 Nov 2014

Marie-Claude Dicaire, member of Robert Boyd’s research team at the University of Ottawa, won the 2014 IEEE Ottawa Photonics Student Best Paper Award


Prof. Robert Boyd wins the 2014 IEEE Quantum Electronics award for his contributions to nonlinear optics

13 Oct 2014

Prof. Robert Boyd won the 2014 IEEE Quantum Electronics award for his contributions to nonlinear optics, including room temperature slow light and the nonlinear optics of composite materials ([Link])


Robert Boyd’s contributions honored with election to SPIE Fellowship

11 Oct 2014

uOttawa officially opens the Advanced Research Complex

30 Sep 2014

New analysis rescues quantum wave-particle duality

15 Sep 2014

A 2012 experiment in which it seemed you could detect interference and also get information about the photon’s path seemed to contradict mutual exclusiveness of wave and particle properties. A new paper by Eliot Bolduc of the University of Ottawa in Canada, with Robert Boyd of Ottawa and the University


Duality principle is “safe and sound”: Researchers clear up apparent violation of quantum mechanics’ wave-particle duality

25 Aug 2014

Robert Boyd is awarded honorary doctorate by University of Glasgow

2 Jul 2014

Next-gen quantum teleportation in just 2 photons

13 May 2014

Nature News & View: Bright electron twisters

1 May 2014

Physicists see 27th dimension of photons

29 Jan 2014

In a study detailed in the Jan. 20 issue of the journal Nature Communications,researchers from the University of Rochester and the University of Glasgow took a direct measurement of a photon’s 27-dimensional quantum state. ([Link])


Physicists scoop information from Schrödinger’s cat box

21 Jan 2014

In a paper published in the current issue of the scientific journal Nature Communications and titled “[Link],” a team of physicists describe how they circumvented a basic principle of uncertainty that requires that some states of a quantum system must be understood poorly if other states are to be understood


University of Ottawa researchers get $1.6M in funding boost

9 Jan 2014

Mohammad Mirhosseini, member of Robert Boyd’s research team at University of Rochester, won the Emil Wolf prize

21 Oct 2013

Scientists discover a way around Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle

14 Mar 2013

First weak measurements made on optical polarization states

11 Mar 2013

Research Breakthrough: uOttawa Physicist Makes First Direct Measurements Of Quantum States Of Light

5 Mar 2013

Schrödinger’s Cat could be visible after all

4 Mar 2013

Exploiting Subtleties in the Uncertainty Principle

3 Mar 2013

Quantum Imaging Technique Heralds Unjammable Aircraft Detection

14 Dec 2012

Warning, speedsters: you can’t fool quantum radar

14 Dec 2012

Quantum imaging could be the end of radar jamming

14 Dec 2012

University of Ottawa aims to become ‘photonics world capital’

16 Oct 2012

Ground breaks for new Ottawa research complex

3 Oct 2012

The Advanced Research Complex—Fostering innovation in photonics and geoscience

17 Sep 2012

Canadian researchers take a sneak peek at Schrödinger’s Cat and a step toward a quantum computer

14 Mar 2012

Israel De Leon wins Governor General’s Gold Academic Medal

14 Oct 2011

Slowing Light to the Speed of Sound

12 Jul 2011

Scientists drag light by slowing it to the speed of sound

8 Jul 2011

Slowing the Speed of Light to a Crawl

7 Jul 2011

World leader in photonics chooses uOttawa

1 May 2011

Making Ottawa the Photonics Capital of the World

23 Apr 2011

Canada Excellence Research Chair in Quantum Nonlinear Optics

17 Apr 2011

Robert Boyd gets profiled by Ottawa Magazine

1 Sep 2010

University recruits American expert to help establish world-class photonics research centre

10 May 2010

Shaping quantum light in space and time can enable the internet of the future

General-audience article published by Mehul Malik in the Royal Society of Edinburgh Blog

12 Jul 2023

Former group member Mehul Malik publishes article for the general audience on “Shaping Quantum Light in Space and Time Can Enable the Internet of the Future.” You can read it here [Link]


Rochester researchers develop method to eliminate distortions in multimode fibers

13 May 2021

The use of multimode optical fibers to boost the information capacity of the Internet is severely hampered by distortions that occur during the transmission of images because of a phenomenon called modal crosstalk. Rochester researchers devised a novel technique, described in a paper in [Link], to “flip” the optical wavefront of an image


Robert Boyd receives certificate from Max Planck Director Florian Marquardt naming him Visiting Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light in Erlangen.

4 Nov 2019

Robert Boyd visits the University of Minnesota to present the Colloquium of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

18 Apr 2019

The photo shows Mitchell Luskin, Sang-Hyun Oh, Bob, Jim Ledger, and Tony Low on the observation platform of the Guthrie Theatre with the Mississippi River in the background.

 


Robert Boyd with Robert Millard (left), Chair of the MIT Corporation, and Susan Hockfield (right), former President of MIT

22 Feb 2019

Robert Boyd wins the 2018-2019 University of Ottawa Researcher of the Year Award

19 Feb 2019

Lab visit with Nobel Laureate in Physics Dr. Donna Strickland

18 Jan 2019


New graduate course to be offered fall 2018. Boris Braverman and Robert Boyd will be jointly teaching a course on Quantum Information and Metrology PHY8191(C) during the fall semester.

28 May 2018

Marco Liscidini of the University of Pavia presents the Quantum Photonics seminar on Engineering non-classical light in integrated devices

7 Mar 2018

Robert Boyd Working to Realize Orbital Angular Momentum Quantum Cryptography Protocol

22 Feb 2018

Chinese researchers have put forward a new quantum cryptography standard which Robert Boyd has begun work to realize in the lab. ([Link])


Photonics breakthrough could significantly boost internet speeds

9 Feb 2018

A breakthrough in materials for photonics applications could result in faster internet speeds by a considerable order of magnitude. [Link], the new technology combines two known concepts: meta-materials consisting of arrays of antennas and a thin film of a non-linear material. ([Link])


Metamaterial could boost internet speeds, cut power

7 Feb 2018

A team from the University of Ottawa and Ireland’s Tyndall National Institute and Cork Institute of Technology has developed a custom, artificial material that could improve several nonlinear optical applications. Alongside better internet speeds, the team suggests that thinner lenses could be created for cameras and mobile phones, as could


“Generation of Caustics and Rogue Waves from Nonlinear Instability” named Editor’s suggestion

10 Dec 2017

“Generation of Caustics and Rogue Waves from Nonlinear Instability” named Editor’s suggestion in Physical Letters Review. ([Link])


Taiwan’s Minister of Science Visits the Boyd Group.

25 Oct 2017

Liang-Gee Chen, Taiwan’s Minister of Science and Technology visits the Advanced Research Group.


Dr. Orad Reshef is awarded the Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship

17 Jul 2017

Dr. Orad Reshef is awarded the Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship for his proposal, “Nonlinear optics in integrated zero-index media.” [Link]


A 100-year-old physics problem has been solved at EPFL

23 Jun 2017

EPFL researchers have found a way around what was considered a fundamental limitation of physics for over 100 years. They were able to conceive resonant systems that can store electromagnetic waves over a long period of time while maintaining a broad bandwidth. ([Link])


“Photonic Crystal Slow Light Waveguides in a Kagome Lattice” named Editor’s Pick

1 May 2017

“Photonic Crystal Slow Light Waveguides in a Kagome Lattice” was named Editor’s pick. ([Link])


Physicists detect exotic looped trajectories of light in three-slit experiment

6 Jan 2017

Physicists have performed a variation of the famous 200-year-old double-slit experiment that, for the first time, involves “exotic looped trajectories” of photons. These photons travel forward through one slit, then loop around and travel back through another slit, and then sometimes loop around again and travel forward through a third


“Application-tailored optimisation of photonic crystal waveguides” named paper of the week

1 Nov 2016

The paper “Application-tailored optimisation of photonic crystal waveguides” was named paper of the week by the Journal of Optics. ([Link])


Robert Boyd gives an invited talk at the Royal Society of London

17 Aug 2016

Robert Boyd was appointed as a IEEE Photonics Society Distinguished Lecturer a second year in a row

17 Aug 2016

Robert Boyd awarded the 2016 Arthur L. Schawlow Prize in Laser Science

17 Aug 2016

Robert Boyd was awarded the 2016 Arthur L. Schawlow Prize in Laser Science for his to recognize outstanding contributions to basic research which uses lasers to advance our knowledge of the fundamental physical properties of materials and their interaction with light. [Link]


Dr. Robert Fickler is awarded the Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship for his proposal, “Twisting Macroscopic Quantum Light.”

17 Jun 2016

Record Optical Nonlinearity in a Semiconductor

5 May 2016

Researchers at a U.S. university have found a record nonlinear optical response in a commonly available semiconductor (Science, doi: [Link]). The results could open new avenues for building tiny structures for many nanophotonics applications. ([Link])


Indium Tin Oxide Might Be the Material Photonics Has Been Waiting For

28 Apr 2016

A team led by Robert Boyd, a physicist at the University of Ottawa and the University of Rochester, [Link] that a transparent metal called indium tin oxide (ITO), which is often used in touchscreens and on airplane windows, can achieve a particularly high degree of optical nonlinearity—making it a good candidate for


‘Game-changer’ for photonics applications: Researchers demonstrate record optical nonlinearity

28 Apr 2016

A team, led by Robert W. Boyd, Professor of Optics and Physics at the University of Rochester and the Canada Excellence Research Chair in Quantum Nonlinear Optics at the University of Ottawa, has demonstrated that the transparent, electrical conductor  can result in up to 100 times greater nonlinearity


A twist on Hanbury Brown—Twiss interferometry offers new approach for remote sensing

8 Apr 2016

In a paper, published in Science Advances today, the researchers demonstrate that for light from a source such as the Sun, random fluctuations of intensity give rise to correlations of  beams. They showed the presence of these correlations by modifying a now classical experiment called Hanbury Brown – Twiss (HBT)


Researchers demonstrate a new way to characterize twisted light

1 Apr 2016

Researchers at the University of Rochester have overcome experimental challenges to demonstrate a new way for getting a full picture of twisted light: characterizing the Wigner distribution. ([Link])


Robert Boyd awarded the 2016 Charles Hard Townes Award

14 Mar 2016

Robert Boyd was awarded the 2016 Charles Hard Townes Award by the Optical Society of America for fundamental contributions to the field of nonlinear optics, including the development of methods for controlling the velocity of light, of quantum imaging methods, and of composite nonlinear optical materials. [Link]


Physicists experimentally realize a quantum Hilbert hotel

21 Oct 2015

In their paper, the physicists proposed two ways to model this phenomena—one theoretical and one experimental—both of which use the infinite number of quantum states of a quantum system to represent the infinite number of hotel rooms in a hotel. ([Link])


Adding Quantum Rooms to the Hilbert Hotel

15 Oct 2015

An optical experiment realizes one of the room-changing operations in the Hilbert Hotel—a fictitious establishment that illustrates some perplexing properties of infinity. ([Link])


Robert Boyd presents his view on Charles Townes’ legacy at a meeting of former Townes Ph.D. students

17 Aug 2015

Check out this video produced by the Canada Excellence Research Chair program

17 Aug 2015

Article selected for Journal of Optics as a Highlight of 2015

2 Jul 2015

Our article titled “Beyond the effective index method: improved accuracy for 2D simulations of photonic crystal waveguides” was selected by the editors of Journal of Optics as a Highlight of 2015. [Link]


Dr. Gerd Leuchs and Dr. Robert Boyd invited for Max-Planck-Forum in Berlin on Quantum Cryptography

26 Jun 2015

‘Twisted light’ gives quantum cryptography a boost

27 Mar 2015

The efficiency of quantum-cryptographic systems could be improved thanks to a new technique that uses “twisted light” to increase the amount of information carried per photon. ([Link])


Orbital angular momentum Broadband Generation

3 Feb 2015

Generating Mobius strips of light

29 Jan 2015

A collaboration of researchers from Canada, Europe and the USA have experimentally produced Möbius strips from the polarization of light, confirming a theoretical prediction that it is possible for light’s electromagnetic field to assume this peculiar shape. ([Link])


Möbius strips of light made for the first time

29 Jan 2015

Banzer’s team scattered two polarised green laser beams off a gold bead that was smaller than the wavelength of the light. The resulting inference introduced a polarisation pattern with either three or five twists, giving it a Möbius-like structure. ([Link])


How to twist light into a Möbius strip

29 Jan 2015

The team used a green laser beam that was a superposition of two waves with opposing spin. The result was a beam with a polarization that varied across its width. It was circularly polarized at its centre, but linearly polarized – and with varying orientations of the polarization vector –


Sad News: Nobel laureate and laser inventor Charles Townes dies at 99

27 Jan 2015

Big Twist for Electron Beam

23 Jan 2015

Marie-Claude Dicaire wins the 2014 IEEE Ottawa Photonics Student Best Paper Award

13 Nov 2014

Marie-Claude Dicaire, member of Robert Boyd’s research team at the University of Ottawa, won the 2014 IEEE Ottawa Photonics Student Best Paper Award


Prof. Robert Boyd wins the 2014 IEEE Quantum Electronics award for his contributions to nonlinear optics

13 Oct 2014

Prof. Robert Boyd won the 2014 IEEE Quantum Electronics award for his contributions to nonlinear optics, including room temperature slow light and the nonlinear optics of composite materials ([Link])


Robert Boyd’s contributions honored with election to SPIE Fellowship

11 Oct 2014

uOttawa officially opens the Advanced Research Complex

30 Sep 2014

New analysis rescues quantum wave-particle duality

15 Sep 2014

A 2012 experiment in which it seemed you could detect interference and also get information about the photon’s path seemed to contradict mutual exclusiveness of wave and particle properties. A new paper by Eliot Bolduc of the University of Ottawa in Canada, with Robert Boyd of Ottawa and the University


Duality principle is “safe and sound”: Researchers clear up apparent violation of quantum mechanics’ wave-particle duality

25 Aug 2014

Robert Boyd is awarded honorary doctorate by University of Glasgow

2 Jul 2014

Next-gen quantum teleportation in just 2 photons

13 May 2014

Nature News & View: Bright electron twisters

1 May 2014

Physicists see 27th dimension of photons

29 Jan 2014

In a study detailed in the Jan. 20 issue of the journal Nature Communications,researchers from the University of Rochester and the University of Glasgow took a direct measurement of a photon’s 27-dimensional quantum state. ([Link])


Physicists scoop information from Schrödinger’s cat box

21 Jan 2014

In a paper published in the current issue of the scientific journal Nature Communications and titled “[Link],” a team of physicists describe how they circumvented a basic principle of uncertainty that requires that some states of a quantum system must be understood poorly if other states are to be understood


University of Ottawa researchers get $1.6M in funding boost

9 Jan 2014

Mohammad Mirhosseini, member of Robert Boyd’s research team at University of Rochester, won the Emil Wolf prize

21 Oct 2013

Scientists discover a way around Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle

14 Mar 2013

First weak measurements made on optical polarization states

11 Mar 2013

Research Breakthrough: uOttawa Physicist Makes First Direct Measurements Of Quantum States Of Light

5 Mar 2013

Schrödinger’s Cat could be visible after all

4 Mar 2013

Exploiting Subtleties in the Uncertainty Principle

3 Mar 2013

Quantum Imaging Technique Heralds Unjammable Aircraft Detection

14 Dec 2012

Warning, speedsters: you can’t fool quantum radar

14 Dec 2012

Quantum imaging could be the end of radar jamming

14 Dec 2012

University of Ottawa aims to become ‘photonics world capital’

16 Oct 2012

Ground breaks for new Ottawa research complex

3 Oct 2012

The Advanced Research Complex—Fostering innovation in photonics and geoscience

17 Sep 2012

Canadian researchers take a sneak peek at Schrödinger’s Cat and a step toward a quantum computer

14 Mar 2012

Israel De Leon wins Governor General’s Gold Academic Medal

14 Oct 2011

Slowing Light to the Speed of Sound

12 Jul 2011

Scientists drag light by slowing it to the speed of sound

8 Jul 2011

Slowing the Speed of Light to a Crawl

7 Jul 2011

World leader in photonics chooses uOttawa

1 May 2011

Making Ottawa the Photonics Capital of the World

23 Apr 2011

Canada Excellence Research Chair in Quantum Nonlinear Optics

17 Apr 2011

Robert Boyd gets profiled by Ottawa Magazine

1 Sep 2010

University recruits American expert to help establish world-class photonics research centre

10 May 2010

Saumya Choudhary successfully defends her thesis.

30 Nov 2023

Saumya’s thesis “Light-Matter Interaction in Plasmonic Systems and Atomic Vapor” was successfully defended in Rochester on November 29, 2023. The Boyd group is very proud of this long-time member’s success and of the excellence of her work.


Shaping quantum light in space and time can enable the internet of the future

General-audience article published by Mehul Malik in the Royal Society of Edinburgh Blog

12 Jul 2023

Former group member Mehul Malik publishes article for the general audience on “Shaping Quantum Light in Space and Time Can Enable the Internet of the Future.” You can read it here [Link]


Saad-bin-Alam successfully defends his PhD thesis

13 Jan 2023

Congratulations to Enno Giese who has just accepted a position as assistant professor at the Technical University of Darmstadt. At TUD he will build up a group in Theoretical Quantum Optics at the Institute for Applied Physics.

23 Apr 2021

Congratulations to former student and current colleague Ksenia Dolgaleva on the publication of her textbook Introduction to Optics I, Interaction of Light with Matter, published this month by Morgan & Claypool Publishers.

30 Oct 2020

Congratulations to Nick and Libby Black on the birth of their first child, Henry Anderson Black, on September 11, 2020. Nick is a current PhD student in the Boyd group at the University of Rochester.

16 Sep 2020

Congratulations to Ksenia Dolgaleva on the birth of her son Ivan on August 12, 2020. In the back row of the photo is Evgueni Kobzev (father) holding Ivan and standing next to Ksenia. In the front row are Ivan’s sisters Anastasia (left) and Nina (right). Ksenia is on her way to having a whole family of physicists.

26 Aug 2020

Congratulations to Akbar Safari and his wife Mobina Alizadeh on the August 5 birth of their daughter Melody Safari.

17 Aug 2020

Congratulations to Zahirul Alam and his wife Fatima Uddin on the July 4 birth of their son Aydin Muhammad Alamuddin.

29 Jul 2020

Congratulations to John and Eimi Heebner on the occasion of their wedding on July 20 at Yosemite National Park.

28 Jul 2020

(From what John tells me, this photo is not a fake; the Milky Way really is that bright with a 10 sec exposure.)


Congratulations to Saad Jaddua for successfully defending his MSc thesis on July 23, 2020 via a Zoom link.

27 Jul 2020

Thesis title: Propagation of a Single Photon in a 1-D Waveguide Coupled to a V-Type Atom.
Photo: Clockwise from upper left: Jeff Lundeen, Committee Member; Robert Boyd, Thesis Supervisor; Jacob Krich, Committee
Member; Saad Jaddua, MSc Candidate; André Staudte, Committee Chair.


Congratulations to Girish Kulkurani and his wife Mugdha Kulashreshtha on the July 10 birth of their daughter Mehak Kulkurani.

15 Jul 2020

Congratulations to Mehul Malik

30 Jun 2020

Congratulations to Boyd-group alumnus Mehul Malik who was recently promoted to Associate Professor of Physics at Heriot-Watt University.


Congratulations to Katherine Bearne and her teammates for their victory at the 2019 FISU University World Cup.

3 Dec 2019

Congratulations to Mohammad Mirhosseini (former group PhD student) who has just accepted a faculty position at Caltech.

11 Nov 2019

Congratulations to our former group member Alexander Gaeta for winning the 2019 Charles Hard Townes Award.

8 Apr 2019

Congratulations to Robert Fickler who has just joined the faculty of Tampere University. He is looking for students and postdocs to join him.

13 Nov 2018

Congratulations to Omar Magaña! Omar has just accepted a position as Assistant Professor of Physics at Louisiana State University. Way to go, Omar.

25 May 2018

Congratulations to Sebastian Schulz for his new faculty position at the University of St. Andrews.

26 Mar 2018

Congratulations to Mehul Malik for his new faculty position at Heriot-Watt University.

26 Mar 2018

Boyd group reunion in Baton Rouge

15 Mar 2018

Physics family photo where former Boyd-student Mark Gruneisen meets current Boyd group members Robert Fickler and Fredéric Bouchard at the International Conference on Quantum Communication, Measurement and Computing (QCMC) at LSU in Baton Rouge, LA, USA.


Congratulations to M. Zahirul Alam

19 Oct 2017

for being selected by the Award Committee to receive the Best Student Paper Award (first place) for his paper  “Unity-order Nonlinear Index Change in a Metasurface” presented at Photonics North 2017 in Ottawa.The award certificate will be presented to him at the IEEE Ottawa Section Annual General Meeting(AGM), to be held