Greetings from California

Doctoral student Ariel Ashkenazy, who is doing his research under the co-supervision of Prof. Dror Fixler and Prof. Eliahu Cohen, sends his regards from Chapman University in Orange, California. Ashkenazy traveled to California with the support of a BSF grant to conduct a ten-day study at Prof. John Howell’s lab.

Ashkenazy, 34, married and a father of two, specializes in electro-optics. He has a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering and physics, and a master’s in electrical engineering, both from the Faculty of Engineering right here at Bar-Ilan. His PhD research explores broadband entangled photons for advanced quantum applications. “In our research, we are studying how quantum correlations can be used in sensing, imaging, communications and other advanced technologies,” he explains. “At Prof. Howell’s lab, we researched systems that exhibit superoscillations – signals that oscillate faster than the highest frequency component in their spectrum. We examined how such signals behave as they go through different filters and under various interactions, and explored the possible uses of superoscillating signals in classical and quantum applications, as well as the link to temporal and spatial super-resolution.”

The joint project, says Ashkenazy, fostered ties and collaborations not only with Prof. Howell, but also with other researchers at the Institute for Quantum Studies at Chapman University. “On my last day there, I gave a seminar on two of our recent research’s results. One involves a possible implementation of an attack on quantum key distribution (QKD) protocols, and the other involves a method for real-time super-resolution. The response was very positive,” he shares. A recording of the seminar is available here.