About Us
The Quantum Leap Initiative brings together a multidisciplinary team of experts working on diverse aspects of quantum technologies – from integrated quantum photonics to quantum transmission through advanced hollow-core fibers, all the way through quantum metasurfaces and optomechanical transduction techniques – with the unifying research goal of developing solutions for interoperability across platforms and scales and a strong determination to build a competitive workforce in quantum information science and technology (QIST).
This initiative is underpinned by the strong photonics capabilities at CREOL, The College of Optics and Photonics at UCF, and critically complemented by our academic partners at the Advanced Science Research Center at CUNY, the Wyant College of Optical Sciences at the University of Arizona, and the Institute of Optics at the University of Rochester.
Research
NSF ExpandQISE: Track 2: Leveraging synthetic degrees of freedom for quantum state engineering in photonic chips
H. Zhao, W.D. Chen, A. Kejriwal, et al., “Quantum-enabled microwave-to-optical transduction via silicon nanomechanics,” Nat. Nanotechnol (2025).
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41565-025-01874-8
A. Hashemi, M. Javad Zakeri, P. S. Jung, and A. Blanco-Redondo, “Topological quantum photonics,” APL Photonics 10(1), 010903 (2025). – NSF award ID 2328993
https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0239265
S. Love, M. H. Idjadi, F. Ashtiani, H. Lee, and A. Blanco-Redondo, “A programmable platform for photonic topological insulators” Nanophotonics, 14 (3), 367-373 (2025).
https://doi.org/10.1515/nanoph-2024-0577 – NSF award ID 2328993
A. Hashemi, E. L. Pereira, H. Li, J. L. Lado, and A. Blanco-Redondo, “Observation of non-Hermitian topology from optical loss modulation,” arXiv:2411.08729. – NSF award ID 2328993
https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2411.08729
M.B. On, F. Ashtiani, D. Sanchez-Jacome, D. Perez-Lopez, S.J.B. Yoo, and A. Blanco-Redondo, “Programmable integrated photonics for topological Hamiltonians,” Nature Communications 15 (1), 629 (2024). – NSF award ID 2328993
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-44939-3
E.L. Pereira, H. Li, A. Blanco-Redondo, and J.L. Lado, “Non-Hermitian topology and criticality in photonic arrays with engineered losses,” Physical Review Research 6 (2), 023004 (2024). – NSF award ID 2328993