NORMAN—A University of Oklahoma physics professor, Alberto Marino, is the recipient of a National Science Foundation CAREER (Faculty Early Career Development Program) Award in the amount of $500,000 to study new possibilities for the use of spatial degree of freedom in applications ranging from long-distance quantum communications to quantum imaging. The compatibility of the spatial degree of freedom with long-distance quantum networks can bring about a revolution to the field of quantum information science by making it possible to transmit large amounts of information through a quantum channel.

“While the spatial degree of freedom can have a transformative effect in quantum information science, there are currently limited capabilities in terms of the control and manipulation of this degree of freedom,” said Marino, professor in the Homer L. Dodge Department of Physics and Astrophysics, OU College of Arts and Sciences. “Through this research, we will demonstrate the compatibility of the spatial degree of freedom of quantum states of light with long-distance quantum networks.”

The ability to control the distribution of spatial quantum correlations present in continuous-variable entangled twin beams will make it possible to gain new control over the spatial degree of freedom. The implementation of a source with such capability will enable the use of the spatial degree of freedom in quantum information applications, such as secure communications, information processing and distributed quantum computing.

This research will be integrated with an education program that will develop the problem-solving skills of undergraduate students through participation in research and teaching laboratories. Another outreach opportunity will involve high school teachers from the NSF Research in Engineering and Teaching Program. Efforts will be made to involve underrepresented groups in the research program.

For more information about this project or to participate in the related outreach program, contact marino@ou.edu.