Our graduate-student representative Chris Pugh’s research was profiled in the Globe and Mail on Tuesday. The article “Canadians solve key puzzle for future of encryption” chronicles his recent work testing a system for long distance free space quantum communication. For the test he was buckled into a plane with no side door.
Chris is a PhD student at the University of Waterloo in the Department of Physics and Astronomy and the Institute for Quantum Computing (IQC). He is involved in developing new technologies to implement Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) to various moving platforms such as trucks, boats or planes. This test was a step towards having a satellite implement QKD between two ground stations on earth.
Active on many university committees, Chris decided get involved with the broader physics community by running for the position as Councillor Representing Graduate Student Members on our council in 2014. He was re-elected to the position this year. He has worked with us on the Student Affairs Committee, the Membership Committee and our Science Policy Committee. In 2015, he was the part of the International Organizing Committee for the Canadian-American-Mexican Graduate Student Conference in Physics in Oaxaca, Mexico.
Read more about his thesis work on the Globe and Mail‘s site: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/technology/science/canadians-use-photons-to-solve-key-puzzle-for-future-of-encryption/article33397375/