Quantum Engineering Workshop 2026, Caltech

Hybrid Event (Online/Remote & In-Person at Caltech)

For in-person resenvations please email Dr. Farbod Khoshnoud: farbodk@caltech.edu

The online link will be emailed to the registered attendees closer to the event date.

8:50 am - 9:00 am (PST)

Opening welcome and introduction

Organizers: Dr. Marco Quadrelli and Dr. Farbod Khoshnoud

Keynote talks/Distinguished speakers:

9:00 am - 10:00 am (PST)

President Thomas F. Rosenbaum,

Professor of Physics and President of Caltech

"Dynamics of Disordered Quantum Magnets"

10:00 am - 10:45 am (PST)

Prof. Alan E. Willner, UCS

11:00 am - 11:30 am (PST)

Prof. Rana Adhikari, Caltech

11:30 am - 12:00 pm (PST)

Prof. Nick Hutzler, Caltech

12:00 pm - 1:30 pm Break

1:30 pm - 2:00 pm (PST)

Prof. Alireza Marandi, Caltech

2:00 pm - 2:30 pm (PST)

Dr. Dolev Bluvstein, Caltech

2:30 pm - 3:00 pm (PST)

Dr. Lee McCuller, Caltech

3:00 pm - 3:30 pm (PST)

Dr. John L. Callas, JPL

3:30 pm - 4:00 pm (PST)

Prof. Keivan Navi, Cal Poly Pomona

4:00 pm – 4:30 pm (PST)

Prof. Nader Bagherzadeh, UCI

4:30 pm - 5:00 pm (PST)

Q&A, and adjourn

Supported by CAST, Caltech, Cal Poly Pomona, JAVS, ASME

28 May, 2026, A 1-day free hybrid workshop

Pushing the engineering boundaries beyond classical techniques, supported by the CAST Caltech, Journal of Autonomous Vehicles and Systems (JAVS), American Society for Mechanical Engineers (ASME), and College of Engineering, Cal Poly Pomona

Talk Abstracts:

9:00 am - 10:00 am (PST)

President Thomas F. Rosenbaum,

Professor of Physics and President of Caltech

Thomas F. Rosenbaum is the ninth president of the California Institute of Technology and Professor of Physics. He is an expert on the quantum mechanical nature of materials, conducting research at Bell Laboratories, IBM Watson Research Center, and the University of Chicago, where he served as Vice President for Research and for Argonne National Laboratory and then provost, before moving to Caltech in 2014. He received his bachelor's degree in physics with honors from Harvard University and a Ph.D. in physics from Princeton University. He serves as the Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Society for Science, as a Board member of the Aspen Center for Physics, and on the American Academy of Arts & Sciences Los Angeles Program Committee.

Talk:

Title: "Dynamics of Disordered Quantum Magnets"

Thomas F. Rosenbaum, Caltech

Abstract: I will briefly talk about some of the compelling science being addressed at Caltech and then segue into a more technical discussion of my own work in quantum dynamics. What are the fundamental quantum processes that determine a disordered magnet’s approach to its ground state? I will address this question for three instances involving L(Ho,Y)F4, a physical realization of the Ising model in transverse field. Here, the transverse magnetic field acts as a quantum knob in the laboratory and permits the direct comparison of quantum and classical pathways to relaxation in the same system. (1) I will present experiments that quantitatively compare quantum and classical annealing protocols in the disordered ferromagnet, and demonstrate quantum speedup for reasons that can be understood at a microscopic level. This approach follows from Richard Feynman’s concept of a quantum computer and underlies the power of D-Wave machines. (2) Measurements of Barkhausen or “crackling noise” reveal the tunneling characteristics of the magnetic domains as they are driven around a hysteresis loop, and (3) We seek to develop a fundamental model of the quantum spin glass based on experiments that demonstrate strong rejuvenation and quantum erasure of memories.

10:00 am - 10:45 am (PST)

Prof. Alan E. Willner, UCS

Alan Willner received a Ph.D. (1988) from Columbia University, as well as a B.A. (1982) and Honorary Doctorate (2012) from Yeshiva University. He has worked at AT&T Bell Labs and Bellcore, and is a Distinguished Professor and the Andrew & Erna Viterbi Professorial Chair at the Univ. of Southern California. His honors include: Member of US National Academy of Engineering; Int'l Fellow of UK Royal Academy of Eng; IEEE Eric Sumner Technical Field Award; NSF Presidential Faculty Fellows Award from White House; Fulbright, Guggenheim, Packard, and US DoD Vannevar Bush Faculty Fellowships; Thomas Egleston Medal from Columbia Eng. Alumni Association; IET JJ Thompson Medal; Ellis Island Medal of Honor; Optica Forman Eng. Excellence Award; IEEE Photonics Society Eng. Achievement Award; Eddy Best Technical Paper Award; Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors; and SPIE President’s Award. His activities include: Co-Chair of U.S. National Academies Study on Optics & Photonics; President of Optica and of IEEE Photonics Society; Editor-in-Chief of Optics Letters, IEEE/OSA J. of Lightwave Technology, and IEEE J. of Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics; Chair of National Photonics Initiative; and Member of the US Army Science Board and the Defense Sciences Research Council. He is a Fellow of AAAS, IEEE, IET, Optica, and SPIE. His research is primarily in optical communications, sensing, and signal processing.

Talk:

Title: “Transverse and Longitudinal Structured Light for Communications, Sensing and Dynamic Behavior"

Abstract: Light can be “structured” so that they can have unique amplitude and phase spatial distribution in the transverse X-Y plane at any given distance. This is exemplified by light being composed of one or more orthogonal spatial modes from a modal basis set, such as Laguerre Gaussian modes. Moreover, light can be structured in the longitudinal direction along the propagation path, such that the light can be tailored to exhibit various properties at different distances. This can be achieved, for example, by manipulating the Bessel longitudinal wavenumber.

This presentation will highlight novel structuring of light for communications, sensing and dynamic behavior. Although most examples will be for classical beams, issues to be explored hold promise for quantum systems as well. Topics will include:

(1) Communications: Photon efficiency can be increased by encoding each bit on a different orthogonal mode from a larger basis set, capacity can be increased by multiplexing data-carrying channels that are on orthogonal modes, and physical-layer security can be enhanced by simultaneously transmitting a data channel and a noise beam such that the noise is diminished only at an intended receiver’s location. Moreover, degrading effects of turbulence and possible mitigation approaches will be discussed.

(2) Sensing: Since light can be structured to have controllable parameters at different longitudinal distances (e.g., waist, spatial mode, polarization), various properties can be probed as a function of distance by varying the location at which certain properties appear. Furthermore, accurate ranging can be achieved by measuring the light's features that evolve with propagation distance.

(3) Dynamic Behavior: Spatio-temporal optical wave packets can be created by coherently combining different sets of photons that exist at different frequencies and different spatial modes. When considering a given propagation distance, this multi-frequency light can be tailored such that its characteristics (e.g., spatial intensity and phase, polarization state) can dynamically change with time.

11:00 am - 11:30 am (PST)

Prof. Rana Adhikari, Caltech

Rana Adhikari is a Professor of Physics at Caltech, and a member of the Institute for Quantum Information and Matter, and the LIGO Laboratory. At Caltech, his group focuses on quantum measurement, AI for physics experiments, inertial confinement laser fusion, and the next generation of gravitational wave detectors.

Talk:

Title: Designing Quantum-Limited Experiments for Fundamental Physics

Abstract: The field of quantum metrology emerged from the requirements of gravitational-wave detection. Achieving the strain sensitivities necessary for LIGO required direct engagement with the quantum limits of measurement, and four decades of development have produced a mature toolkit: squeezed-light injection, quantum non-demolition readout, and macroscopic mechanical systems operating near their motional ground state. These techniques are not specific to gravitational waves. They are applicable to any experiment whose sensitivity is set by quantum noise, and a growing class of searches for physics beyond the Standard Model — dark matter candidates, signatures of quantum gravity, and tests of the quantum mechanical description of macroscopic objects — now operates at or near the quantum limit. This talk will address the design of such experiments as a formal optimization problem: given a target signal, what is the optimal choice of quantum state, readout strategy, and mechanical configuration?

11:30 am - 12:00 pm (PST)

Prof. Nick Hutzler, Caltech

Nick Hutzler is a Professor of Physics at Caltech where he leads a group that engineers and studies complex molecules for fundamental physics.

Title: Engineered Molecular Clocks for Sensing Fundamental Physics

Abstract: Molecules are sensitive probes for a wide range of fundamental nuclear, particle, and chemical physics. Many applications, especially those with the goal of studying complex nuclei, require molecules with a very complicated structure that renders proven methods to be impractical. We proposed and demonstrated a new approach of engineered molecular clocks, where we use external static electromagnetic fields to tune the molecular properties in-situ and create clock transitions which are insensitive to external fields but still sensitive to the physics of interest. This approach is applicable in a wide range of species, has simple experimental protocols, and enables simultaneous co-sensing of environmental conditions. We discuss the use of this approach to sense fundamental symmetry violating physics in the ytterbium nucleus, and ongoing work to extend these methods to molecules with exotic nuclei such as radium.

1:30 pm - 2:00 pm (PST)

Prof. Alireza Marandi, Caltech

Alireza Marandi is a Professor of Electrical Engineering and Applied Physics at Caltech. He received his PhD from Stanford University in 2013. Before joining Caltech, he held positions as a postdoctoral scholar and a research engineer at Stanford, a visiting scientist at the National Institute of Informatics in Japan, and a senior engineer in the Advanced Technology Group of Dolby Laboratories. Marandi is a Senior Member of OSA and IEEE and has been the recipient of NSF CAREER award, the AFOSR YIP award, ARO Early Career Award, DARPA Young Faculty Award and Director’s Fellowship, and the Young Scientist Prize of the IUPAP. He is named the 2019 KNI-Wheatley Scholar and a 2023 Sloan Foundation Fellow. Marandi is a co-founder and a member of board of directors of PINC Technologies Inc., which is a startup company in Pasadena developing photonic integrated nonlinear circuits.

Talk:

Title: "Ultrafast quantum and classical nonlinear nanophotonic circuits"

Ultrafast sciences and technologies are founded on the principles of ultrashort-pulse nonlinear optics. Until now, their discrete and bulky nature has hindered the utilization of their vast functionalities for many applications, ranging from sensing to computing and quantum information processing. In the past few years, nanophotonic lithium niobate (LN) has emerged as one of the most promising platforms for integrated photonics, characterized by strong quadratic nonlinearity. In this talk, I will present recent experimental progress in the realization and utilization of ultrafast nonlinear devices in nanophotonic LN, which outperform their table-top counterparts. These advancements include intense optical parametric amplification [1], ultrafast ultra-low-energy all-optical switching [2], few-cycle vacuum squeezing [3], ultrafast laser mode-locking [4], ultrabroadband coherent light sources [5, 6], generation of two-cycle pulses [7], and topological soliton combs [8]. I will also discuss ongoing efforts toward the miniaturization of ultrafast technologies and the development of chip-scale ultrafast nanophotonic circuits in both the classical and quantum regimes.

References

[1] L. Ledezma, R. Sekine, Q. Guo, R. Nehra, S. Jahani, A. Marandi, “Intense optical parametric amplification in dispersion engineered nanophotonic lithium niobate waveguides,” Optica 9 (3), 303-308 (2022).

[2] Q. Guo, R. Sekine, L. Ledezma, R. Nehra, D. J. Dean, A. Roy, R. M. Gray, S. Jahani, A. Marandi, “Femtojoule femtosecond all-optical switching in lithium niobate nanophotonics,” Nature Photonics 16, 625–631 (2022).

[3] R. Nehra, R. Sekine, L. Ledezma, Q. Guo, R. M. Gray, A. Roy, A. Marandi, “Few-cycle vacuum squeezing in nanophotonics,” Science 377, 1333–1337 (2022).

[4] Q. Guo, B. K. Gutierrez, R. Sekine, R. M. Gray, J. A. Williams, L. Ledezma, L. Costa, A. Roy, S. Zhou, M. Liu, A. Marandi, “Ultrafast mode-locked laser in nanophotonic lithium niobate,” Science 382, 708-713 (2023).

[5] A. Roy, L. Ledezma, L. Costa, R. Gray, R. Sekine, Q. Guo, M. Liu, R. M. Briggs, A. Marandi, “Visible-to-mid-IR tunable frequency comb in nanophotonics,” Nature Communications 14 (1), 6549 (2023).

[6] R. Sekine, R. M. Gray, L. Ledezma, S. Zhou, Q. Guo, A. Marandi, “Multi-octave frequency comb from an ultra-low-threshold nanophotonic parametric oscillator,” Nature Photonics 19, 1189–1195 (2025).

[7] R. M. Gray, R. Sekine, M. Shen, T. Zacharias, J. Williams, S. Zhou, R. Chawlani, L. Ledezma, N. Englebert, A. Marandi, “Two-optical-cycle pulses from nanophotonic two-color soliton compression,” Light: Science & Applications (15), Article number: 107 (2026).

[8] N. Englebert, R. M. Gray, L. Ledezma, R. Sekine, T. Zacharias, R. Ramesh, B. K. Gutierrez, P. Parra-Rivas, A. Marandi, “Topological Soliton Frequency Comb in Nanophotonic Lithium Niobate,” Nature 652, 76–81 (2026).

2:30 pm - 3:00 pm (PST)

Dr. Lee McCuller, Caltech

Lee McCuller is an assistant professor of physics at Caltech, with a research focus in experimentally applying quantum optics to enhance gravitational-wave astrophysics and searches for fundamental physics. Prof. McCuller was previously a research scientist with the LIGO Laboratory at the MIT Kavli Institute, developing and deploying frequency-dependent squeezing in Gravitational-Wave observatories. Lee received his PhD in physics from the University of Chicago and his BS in physics and mathematics from the University of Texas at Austin.

Talk:

Title: "Utility-Scale Quantum Advantage in detecting black holes with Gravitational-Wave Observatories is not science fiction"

Abstract:

Optical interferometer observatories such as LIGO have begun a new era of astrophysics by measuring the length of their vast arms to such precision that gravitational waves from distant collisions of black holes and neutron stars are now regularly observed. The global gravitational wave network recently entered a new era, whereby every detector has enhanced sensitivity using quantum squeezed states of light, limited by measurement back-action and optical loss. In its latest observing run, LIGO is now operating with its, "Frequency-dependent squeezing" upgrade to now surpass two limitations to its quantum-limited sensitivity. Given the proven and maturing effectiveness of squeezing, we should now explore what are future avenues to utilize quantum mechanics to improve Gravitational-Wave observatories, interferometers, and physics experiments in general. This talk will outline the information theoretic basis of squeezing's effectiveness, it's fundamental limitations, and outline how emerging technologies such as atomic quantum memories can implement alternate non-Gaussian quantum enhancements that surpass squeezing for certain astrophysics and fundamental physics science goals.

3:00 pm - 3:30 pm (PST)

Dr. John L. Callas, JPL

Dr. John Callas is a physicist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. He is deputy director of JPL's Quantum Space Innovation Center and manages fundamental physics research for JPL and NASA. Previously he managed NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Project with rovers Spirit and Opportunity and the joint NASA-NSF Exoplanet Observational Research program. He teaches mathematics at Pasadena City College as an adjunct assistant professor. He holds a Ph.D. in Physics from Brown University.

Talk:

"The JPL Quantum Space Innovation Center"

Abstract:

The JPL Quantum Space Innovation Center is a virtual center within JPL to harness and leverage breakthrough quantum technologies that enable new science, and a Hub to build connections with universities and industry to exploit collaborative opportunities and develop a quantum workforce.

4:00 pm – 4:30 pm (PST)

Prof. Nader Bagherzadeh, UCI

Nader Bagherzadeh, an IEEE Fellow, is a Professor of Computer Engineering in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of California, Irvine, where he served as Department Chair from 1998 to 2003. Since earning his Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin in 1987, he has pioneered research in microarchitecture hardware/software optimization, reconfigurable computing, Network-on-Chip, and 3D IC systems. His current work focuses on next-generation frontiers, including machine learning accelerators and quantum computing. Professor Bagherzadeh has authored more than 350 articles in leading peer-reviewed journals and conferences.

Talk:

"Decoding the Quantum Frontier: AI-Driven Error Correction for Fault-Tolerant Computing"

Nader Bagherzadeh, EECS, UCI

Samira Sayedsalehi, EECS, UCI

Abstract

The path to fault-tolerant quantum computing is fundamentally gated by our ability to perform real-time Quantum Error Correction (QEC). While surface codes provide a robust geometric framework for topological protection, the classical control layer currently faces a scaling crisis. Traditional decoding algorithms, such as Minimum-Weight Perfect Matching (MWPM), are increasingly insufficient for large-scale lattices, struggling with both the exponential growth of computational complexity and the nuanced, correlated noise patterns inherent in modern hardware.

In this talk, we present a paradigm shift in the QEC stack: replacing rigid classical decoders with adaptive, AI-driven neural architectures. We demonstrate how the 2D lattice geometry of surface codes can be effectively treated as a dynamic "image" problem, allowing for the application of Vision Transformer (ViT) and sequence-based Transformer models to decode syndrome signals. By leveraging self-attention mechanisms, these neural decoders can identify non-local error correlations that traditional algorithms miss, significantly improving logical error rates at scale.

Beyond the algorithmic advantages, we explore the engineering realities of implementing these models within the cryogenic control loop. We discuss techniques such as model distillation, quantization, and FPGA-based co-processor integration, aimed at achieving the sub-microsecond latency required for real-time error correction. We conclude by framing the future of quantum computing not merely as a quest for more physical qubits, but as an optimization challenge for the classical "classical brain" that keeps those qubits alive. Attendees will gain an understanding of how integrating LLM-inspired architectures into the quantum stack is the essential, missing component for transitioning from noisy intermediate-scale devices to utility-scale fault tolerance.