Professor Alexander Sergienko (ECE) Receives Durable Equipment (DURIP) Award for Quantum Communication Research
Modern communication relies on complex and nuanced technologies but the future is quantum communications. In his endeavors to bring communication to the future, Professor Alexander Sergienko (ECE) received a Durable Equipment (DURIP) Award from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR). This award is a recognition of his efforts to develop devices for efficient quantum networking and communication. DURIP Awards are highly competitive and only offered to university investigators conducting essential science and engineering research of importance to national defense.
Sergienko’s research program targets a single-photon qubit transfer between atomic quantum memory transition at the wavelength of 369.5 nm and a telecommunication window of 1,550 nm. The device is based on exercising a quantum frequency conversion in the wave-guided periodically-poled Lithium Niobate (PPLN) nonlinear crystal. Such quantum frequency conversion from the UV to IR spectral range has not been available in the past. The work is conducted in cooperation with researchers at the Rome Air Force base.
Professor Sergienko is a Fellow of the Optical Society of America and a winner of the College of Engineering Professor of the Year Award at Boston University. His interests focus on quantum state engineering applied to information processing, cryptography, sensor development, communication, and networking. We look forward to his research and new discoveries impacting Boston University ECE community as he dives deep into quantum networking and communication.