Quantum Engineering Workshop 2026, Caltech

The 6th annual Quantum Engineering Workshop
May 28th, 2026, Caltech, Reserve your spot with Caltech here

This workshop will be held on the Caltech campus, with virtual access.

Quantum Engineering Workshop 2026, Caltech
The 6th annual Quantum Engineering Workshop, May 28th, 2026, Caltech

About this Event

Hybrid Event (Online/Remote & In-Person at Caltech)
For in-person resenvations please email Dr. Farbod Khoshnoud: [farbodk@caltech.edu](https://allevents.in/pasadena/quantum-engineering-workshop-2026-caltech/100001988732779278#)
The online link will be emailed to the registered attendees closer to the event date.

8:30 am - 9:00 am (PST)
Opening welcome and introduction
Organizers: Dr. Marco Quadrelli and Dr. Farbod Khoshnoud

Keynote talks, and 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 - 11:00 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)
Dr. 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

Talks:

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:
"Dynamics of Disordered Quantum Magnets"
Thomas F. Rosenbaum, Caltech
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.

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:
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,” 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,” 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,” 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,” 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,” 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,” (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,” .

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.