Marco Lucamarini — December 19, 2025
Quantum communication technologies are rapidly evolving from theoretical concepts to engineered systems capable of securing information with the laws of physics rather than mathematical complexity. In this talk, I will introduce the basic principles of quantum communication and quantum key distribution (QKD), explain why quantum mechanics guarantees their security, and discuss the main challenges to…
Fabio Cinti — December 16, 2025
In this talk we explore the many-body physics of interacting bosons in unconventional geometries, focusing on quantum quasicrystals and curved confinements such as bubble traps. These settings provide a versatile platform to study strongly correlated matter beyond standard lattices and host a variety of many-body phases. Starting with an extended hardcore-boson Hubbard model on a…
Vincenzo D’Ambrosio — December 9, 2025
Vectorial modes of light, a type of structured light where the polarization varies across the beam profile, are a useful tool in quantum technologies where they provide large alphabets and rich entanglement structures. In quantum communication, for instance, vectorial modes enable rotational invariant protocols, therefore overcoming the requirement of a shared reference frame between users.…
Hannes Pichler — December 4, 2025
Rydberg atom arrays are a scalable platform for programmable many-body physics and quantum information processing. In the first part, I will show how strong, controllable Rydberg interactions enable high-fidelity analog simulation of spin models, revealing phenomena from symmetry breaking to topological order. I will present protocols that generate highly entangled states in noisy analog settings…
Tomaz Prosen — December 1, 2025
I will discuss the problem of unreasonable effectiveness of random matrix theory for description of spectral fluctuations in extended quantum lattice systems. A class of locally interacting spin systems has been recently identified where the spectral form factor is proven to match with gaussian or circular ensembles of random matrix theory, and where spatiotemporal correlation…
Federico Mazzola — November 19, 2025
For many years, since the beginning of the 19th century, the existence of magnetism in low dimensions has been both desired and controversial. It was long thought, that magnetic orders in low dimensional systems could not be realized at temperatures different from zero. At least, this was what the Mermin-Wagner theorem stated for isolated Heisenberg…
Michele Campisi — November 11, 2025
Finding the time dependent perturbation that extracts the maximal amount of energy (a.k.a. ergotropy) from a thermally isolated quantum system is a central, solved, problem in quantum thermodynamics. Notably, the same problem has been long studied for classical systems as well, e.g., in the field of plasma physics, but a general solution is still missing…
Roberto B. Salazar Vargas — November 7, 2025
We will review the research areas currently developed at the Quantum Communication Group in Malta, with the aim of generating collaboration between the groups. Particular emphasis would be placed on novel security proof techniques and the optimization of quantum-classical channel capacity.
Chiara Paletta — October 29, 2025
I will discuss the integrability property of a stochastic and quantum deformation of the Rule 54 cellular automaton: the simplest microscopic (deterministic) reversible model in 1+1 discrete space and time dimensions with strong local interactions. First, I will introduce the Rule 54 model and its two deformations: In the stochastic case, I couple the system…
Piotr T. Grochowski — October 21, 2025
Continuous-variable quantum systems enable encoding complex states in fewer modes through large-scale non-Gaussian states. Motion, as a continuous degree of freedom, underlies phenomena from Cooper pair dynamics to levitated macroscopic objects. Hence, realizing high-energy, spatially extended motional states remains key for advancing quantum sensing, simulation, and foundational tests. In the talk, I will present the…
Vladyslav C. Usenko — September 2, 2025
Quantum key distribution is well known to be an essentially quantum task, which is not possible by purely classical means. After being suggested on the basis of strongly nonclassical single-photon states and direct photodetection in the discrete-variable approach, it was later extended to continuous variables, using Gaussian states and coherent detection, well known in classical…
Alain Aspect and Anne L’Huillier — May 28, 2025
In the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology, and on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the Department of Physics, Nobel Laureates Alain Aspect (2022) and Anne L’Huillier (2023) will share the human and professional journey that led them to receive the highest honor in science. The event will be moderated by journalist…
Rainer Kaltenbaek — May 13, 2025
The foundations of quantum physics like superposition and entanglement put our everyday understanding of physical reality into question. At the same time, they provide the basis for a host of novel quantum applications. Entanglement will be the key resource for future quantum networks, where it will be used for quantum communication but also to connect…
Giuseppe (Pino) Vallone — December 10, 2024
Within the last two decades, Quantum Technologies have made tremendous progress, from proof of principle demonstrations to real life applications, such as Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) and Quantum Random Number Generators (QRNGs). We will discuss the results that we have recently obtained in our group at the University of Padova towards the realization of secure…
David W. Snoke — November 11, 2024
It is possible to engineer the properties of photons in an optical medium to have an effective mass and repulsive interactions, so that they act like a gas of atoms These "renormalized photons" are called polaritons In the past decade, several experiments have demonstrated many of the canonical effects of Bose Einstein condensation and superfluidity…
