As head of the Institute of Quantum Information Science at the University of Calgary, Barry Sanders is involved in the research of the entire team. He is involved in resources and requirements for QIS, proposals and implementations of QIS protocols and tasks, and applications of QIS to other areas of theoretical physics. Dr. Barry Sanders is involved with the quantum optics research group at Macquarie University and has primary interests in quantum informatics and quantum networks, photonic crystals, fundamental issues in quantum physics, open system quantum dynamics, and Lie group techniques. Barry Sanders and Jim Cresser are the two senior members of the group, and the group includes postdoctoral researchers and students. Details of the group can be viewed by clicking here. The quantum optics group collaborates with computer scientists at Macquarie University as part of the interdisciplinary Centre for Advanced Computing - Algorithms and Complexity. Areas of current research:

Quantum Networks:

A quantum network is an array of quantum devices, connected via a structure of communication channels that can be one-way or two-way and can be classical, quantum or a combination of the two. A particularly important example of a quantum network is a distributed quantum computer. The research employs Lie group theory to characterize complex quantum networks and to analyze their properties and outputs (collaborations with Lakehead University and University of Toronto), constructs theories of measurement and detection that are both accurate and applicable to quantum network designs,develops and analyses highly nonclassical states such as entangled coherent states and their applications to quantum networks, considers realisations of quantum networks in both quantum optics and in the area of quantum informatics (collaborations with Masaryk University, Stanford University, the University of Queensland and HP Laboratories Bristol), and investigates the communication structure for a distributed quantum computation in collaboration with the other members of the interdisciplinary Centre for Advanced Computing.

Algorithms and Cryptography:

Some of the key results have included proposals for realising geometric phase shifts in systems with non-Abelian dynamics, characterising Bell inequality experiments using operationalism and Lie group theory, formulating quantum computation for qudits and performing detailed analyses of both quantum cryptography, quantum secret sharing and quantum teleportation (which can be key components of the communication structure within the network).

Photonic Crystals:

Research into photonic crystals has developed rapidly since the concept was developed in the 1980s, and exciting developments have taken place for photonic crystals in one-, two- and three-dimensional photonic crystal structures.

In the most important applications, photonic crystals provide photonic bandgaps, analogous to electronic bandgaps in solid-state physics, and could lead to revolutionary optical circuits. The research focus is on: cavity quantum electrodynamics in photonic crystals (collaborations with University of Toronto, Karlsruhe University and the University of Oregon) and microwave antennae design in photonic crystals (with the Department of Electronics of Macquarie University). Key results include quantitatively accurate theories and modelling of radiating dipoles in photonic crystals.